Total Zeksmit Plains
by Great Pikmin Fan
Summary: Alternate Universe not related to the canon series, with small fantasy elements. Ezekiel, after winning a challenge by Chris, uses his money to host a show of his own starring eleven rather familiar girls as they compete in the wild prairies of Zekitunakwa. Day 8: The mystery of "Homer" revealed!
1. One What of a Show

**Total Zeksmit Plains**

**Chapter 1: One What of a Show**

**Beginning AN:**

This is a remake of _Total Fan Service Plains_, with some things I didn't like about the old draft changed and the chapters cut down by number to make the pacing faster. I plan on posting the original version - the seven chapters that had been published, plus the draft of the eighth and a _bunch_ of commentary - on another website sometime. I still have the files saved up.

Bear with me, the beginning may look rushed, but that's only because the old version dragged the arrivals on for too long and I _really_ didn't want a repeat of that, especially since the contestants are from the canon series so you should know them already.

The confessionals are written in the same way as they are in _Total Drama World Tour Rewrite_: If there's a double paragraph break, it means that there was that typical "static" transition from one person to another. If it's a single paragraph break, it means that it's part of the same confessional scene, but with either a different person talking with another or someone saying paragraphs worth of confessions.

By the way, out of Alejandro, Cody, DJ, Duncan, Harold, Noah, Owen, Trent, and Tyler, many of them will either have very small roles for this season or won't appear at all. One of these nine, however, does have a surprize purpose, which will be a mystery for a portion. I will not tell you how large this "portion" is.

**Pairings:** There is exactly one femslash pairing _this_ season, and another het pairing. Both of these have been planned already and are being kept secret. Romance won't take up so much of this season do to having only eleven contestants and thirteen chapters, though, and because I do want to focus a little more on rivalries and conflicts.

* * *

><p>"Yo yo yo, wassup everyone! This is Ezekiel Foster Smithy here, AKA Zeksmit, winner of the 'host your own show' challenge in Chris McClean's <em>Extreme Musical Drama High School<em>, here to invite you to something a little more... of my own style! Yeah!"

As the teal-toqued teen shouted the last sentence fragment, the cameras zoomed out to reveal that he was in a large, open prairie with a road in between him and the camera. To the left - from the viewer's perspective - and in the far distance, the entrance to a tall forest is visible. Towards the right a looming, tall, oddly angular cliff was seated above a large and lush azure lake. Just slightly off to the left of the exact point Ezekiel was standing was a set of wooden buildings in the distance, and in the far back a lone building could be made out. Everything else was just shallow hills coated in bright, chartreuse grass.

Ezekiel walked down the road, to the direction of the cliff. "The rules are pretty basic, you know? Eleven campers will be staying here for four weeks, one by one they'll get eliminated, and the last one standing gets a cash prize of fifty thousand dollars. It's not much, but hey, it's a pretty good deal for people smart enough not to get involved with Chris McClean." He stopped his pacing and shook his fist just-so-slightly. "_Like me_..." He muttered in a threatening tone.

"So, I picked out this place because it was kind of special in my life. It's where my parents met, and it's what I was named after. My history kind of _started_ at this place, and now it will go on and be a part of the history in the one lucky winner of this miniseries: Total. Zeksmit. Plains!"

*Cue intro. It begins with a typical _Total Drama_ canon-esque flyover leading through the open plains, the woods, and up the cliff and off into the lake. Underwater, Eva is swimming around and battling an octopus (obviously someone in a costume), then the camera moves up to show Courtney trying to walk across a pole as part of an obstacle course set up in the lake. A tentacle swipes up from the water and knocks her down, then the camera moves into the shore of the lake where Beth and a pair of sharks are relaxing. We then see the woods, where Leshawna and Heather are battling with poles as weapons on some tree branches. Leshawna knocks Heather off, and the camera goes down to the bushes to show that she landed by Geoff. (Who waves at her.) A sasquatch then pops out of the bushes and chases them away, with Leshawna looking down at the scene and laughing. It then goes to the cafeteria where Justin is standing by a table, trying to serve a decent-looking meal to Bridgette and Izzy, but they are in the middle of an arm wrestling match. Justin starts getting impatient. The camera moves up to the roof where Gwen is on a shopping cart, with Ezekiel standing behind her and holding up a stopwatch. He gives a signal and Gwen rides down, flying off and knocking into an outhouse. This opens the door, showing a bear which jumps out and roars at Gwen before pulling off its head and revealing that it was just Lindsay in a costume. Penultimately, the camera cuts to the plains, where Katie and Sadie are trying to avoid getting shot by paint from interns, before we go to the elimination bleachers where Ezekiel is standing at the podium. All eleven campers are sitting on the bleachers.*

"Anyway, let's see if I can stop talking about myself just for a few seconds and get to introducing our girls."

A broken down, country pickup truck with a wide back had driven up the road and just in front of Ezekiel. Riding in the empty back were eleven teenage girls, all of them clearly looking dizzy. The host opened the back fence and they stepped out.

"So, to repeat I won the special 'start your own miniseason challenge,' and I got to rope in eleven girls that know absolutley _**nothing**_ about EMDHS- well, that _might_ not be true, they _could_ have seen an add on TV or a billboard, since it was everywhere at the time, but the point is, they never saw an episode. I know this because one of the many, many things to mark down when signing into the game was whether or not you saw it, and without telling anybody, I made checking that an automatic failing condition. Luckily for them, I'm a lot less sadistic than Chris."

"Really?" Shouted a girl who was already introduced in another universe as Courtney, but in this universe will remain unknown until shortly. "That trip was the worst one I took in my life!"

"Everyone," Ezekiel announced, grinning even wider and clearly trying to shrink it, "Courtney!"

She angrily grabbed her luggage and walked off of the truck.

"But seriously," Ezekiel continued, "you only think that arrival was so bad because Chris was the driver. I, on the other hand, am a completely different story. Like I always say, never underestimate the power of Zeksmit!"

As the other ten contestants stepped off, Chris laughed at the front of the truck. "I gotta say Ezekiel, you really know your way with picking out victims!"

"They're not victims!" Ezekiel shouted back, walking up towards the pickup. "They might be if they were on _your_ show, but here they're just _contestants_! Or... campers! Yeah, that's right! And I full well intend on giving them _proper_ camper treatment!"

Chris drove off with a laugh. The camera angle was showing further down the road in the direction towards the cliff, and that far down the path was what looked like a set of two towers: one yellow, and one purple.

Ezekiel looked down with a sigh, then spent a few seconds straightening up and telling himself, "He's gone now. He's gone."

After saying that, he resumed his grin and continued announcing. "So, you've all seen Courtney-"

"I researched this place before in my history class! There were some warnings about the wildlife and the pestilence here, so I should tell you that if anything goes wrong I can call my lawyers out at a moment's notice!"

"And joining her is Lindsay,"

The blonde looked around and eventually waved at the active camera.

"Katie and Sadie," he continued, walking up between them and putting his arms around their shoulders. They giggled in responce to this.

"We're on TV, Sadie!" Katie cheered.

"Yes! Eeeep this is so exciting! I can't wait to get to know this place more!" Sadie added.

"Eva, and Leshawna,"

"I just wanna say one more time, this one for the cameras, that this girl is gonna win this!" Leshawna said, holding up a bent arm in a fist.

"And I will say _this_ for the cameras." Eva sneered. "The only green _you_ will be seeing is the grass here when I knock you and the other competition flat on your faces."

"Beth."

"Wow, I've never seen a place so _clean_ before!"

Ezekiel laughed, with his face starting to flush a little. "Yes! Zekitunakwa has been thoroughly cleaned up by environmentalists, and me! Not saying that I'm one, but-"

He glanced over at Bridgette, then cut himself off, and instead walked over to Gwen, who was fanning herself.

"I did _not_ sign up for a hick show." She said.

"No, but you signed up for a reality show!" Ezekiel chuckled in a rather devious manner. He walked over behind the sign and pulled out a large set of paper. "See look, I keep copies of the contract you signed behind here. Did you sign this?" He teased.

Gwen grabbed them and started fanning herself with them.

"This is in the middle of a Canadian tundra, and in the winter at that. Why is it so hot in here?"

"Actually _Gwen_," Ezekiel said, clearly emphasizing her name to the viewers, "This may be in the middle of Canada's starting point before the war, but Zekitunakwa itself is almost considered a desert. That forest to the West wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the mountain spring far out from camp."

He walked over to Heather, who was wearing sunglasses. The to-be camper cringed as the host approached her.

"And this is Heather." Ezekiel continued. "The only contestant recommended to me by Chris. Heather, what do you think of Zekitunakwa?"

"Of course somebody like _you_ would think that I'm in this for any reason other than the money and fame." She snorted. "Just introduce the last of my last competition and get this game started already."

"You know, I was _so close_ to having to compete against you!" Ezekiel cheered.

"Yes, but then they somehow chose your wimpy cousin instead. You told me this."

Ezekiel laughed, before walking over to the last two campers.

"This is Izzy," he began, with the contestant he was referring to springing into the air and looking around the praries.

"Oh yeah!" She shouted. "I always dreamed of a place like this! This is gonna be so fun!"

Ezekiel gave a mischevious smirk.

"Fun for you, not so fun for... anyone else." He drew his attention back to the camera one last time, "And finally, we have... Bridgette."

The girl was carrying a surfboard.

"Um... I thought this was gonna be on a beach."

"Oh, erm..." Ezekiel's eyes darted around. "I don't know where the idea came from - no offense! I think that might have been a misprint on the flyer-"

"Yes, it was." Courtney said, examining the cliff. "You said that the campgrounds would have a cliff that 'opens into the ocean yo.' Complete with using a Zed instead of an S." She used air quotes for the quoted part.

Ezekiel laughed nervously. "Sorry, Bridgette. Even an awesome guy like me makes mistakes. You can still swim around here... though? That cliff does lead out to a nice lake!"

Bridgette stared at him. "Um... thanks?"

He nodded. "Alright, the campers are introduced. Brief rundown of this game eh: Welcome to _Total Zeksmit Plains_, where for a few days you will all get to relax here and endure an elimination-based game where the winner gets fifty grand. This game is not gonna be easy, though. Not at all yo. Over the weeks you must face bears, tough challenges that will test your physical limits, and worst of all eachother before you can claim your prize. With that in mind, it will sound a lot cooler now when I say: Welcome to Zekitunakwa.

"So," Ezekiel clapped. "Brief tour of this place. Like I already said, this is Zekitunakwa," he said, guesturing towards the large sign that read as such. "To the West, which is also where you were driven from, is the Zekitunakwa Forest. To the East and far behind me in the North is the cliff. It's about three hundred meters tall. Can't miss it. Below the edge of the cliff and a little bit more to the East is the lake. Call it the Zekitunakwa Lake, _not_ Lake Zekitunakwa. Trust me, eh. Lots of newcomers get that confused. _Far_ to the East, the other way down that road you came in, is a movie set. We will go there, but not at the beginning. It's actually... pretty endgame, you know? Most of you will not get far enough in-game to have our challenge way over there.

"Now, for the campsite. This is where ten out of eleven of you will be staying for three nights, and as our game goes on that number will decrease as one by one, since one of you gets kicked out of here! Since everything's so close to this place, I'll tell that part of the tour as a walkthrough."

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Campgrounds)<strong>

"These are the main campgrounds." The area he was in had a tall flagpole with a set of speakers at the top, and a pair of two cabins located side-by-side. This portion was much closer to the forest than the sign was.

"Those are your cabins, but don't get too settled in them! Again, one of you will be gone before you have the chance to sleep in for the night. Which is good, because there are only ten beds."

"Are the cabins co-ed?" Lindsay asked.

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow. "The only people using these will be you eleven, and you're all girls. It doesn't matter." He then guestured to a building that was around the general area. "Those are the washrooms." Then he guestured to an outhouse. "And that is an outhouse that doubles as a confession cam."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Ezekiel: I was thinking about not doing this, but this is an all-girls game, and you viewers all know how girls like to rant about stuff. Heh heh.

Gwen: *Trying not to laugh.* This show is already _hilarious_. For all the wrong reasons. The host is _clearly_ a country hick that has no idea what he's doing and keeps making a fool of himself, the budget looks like it was in the triple digets at best, and the area we're living in is a dump that he seems to unironically over-glorify. Why would a so-called celebrity like Chris hire _him_ of all people?

Heather: Ezekiel is clearly a narcicist. If I'm going to win, I'm going to have to kiss up to him as much as possible. It will be hard, but if I do that _and_ make a formidable alliance, my blue ribbon is a garuntee.

* * *

><p>"This," Ezekiel said, guesturing to a wooden, weak building quite a distance to the North from the campite, "Is where we will have our first challenge. Meet me here at four o' clock."<p>

"Am or pm?" Lindsay asked. "I'm sorry, but I don't look as pretty in the night."

"Pm." Ezekiel said. "We won't be doing night challenges just yet."

"Isn't pm the night one?"

"It is in a way, but- Look, when the mess hall clock says 'four,' come out here."

"What mess hall clock?"

"I'll show you the mess hall at the end of the tour. For now, follow me towards the road."

* * *

><p><strong>(East to the Zekitunakwa Sign)<strong>

Just before the road there was a large stadium and a set of bleachers behind it. The campers sat in said seat while Ezekiel walked up to the stadium's podium and grinned.

"This is where we will be having our eliminations. Every three days, starting today, you will be given a challenge. At the end of the challenge, everyone will report here - usually at night - and vote for who you want to send out of here. The loser gets a free ride from our special black car, and onto a resort that Chris was nice enough to loan me, where you will stay there for the rest of the game. I, not being an idiot, will be driving that truck you came on so that I will be spending the nights there too, so don't expect to see me here on a day without challenges. To sound a little like a drill sergeant, you will soon learn to associate me with hard work. I'll explain the fine details of getting kicked off more but for now, I'll tell you that when you get a marshmallow, you are safe."

He gave a guesture to get ready to continue walking, then he led them into what was possibly the largest building in the camp, containing a cafeteria. At the end opposite of the door, a male teen was cooking.

"This is the mess hall," Ezekiel said, "This is the show's co-host and cook, Justin," he said, referring to the one setting up the food. He looked in Ezekiel's direction, and slapped himself in the face.

"Lunch will be ready in half an hour. In the meantime, get your luggage in the cabins, and I'll introduce... a little gimmick to this series."

"Ooh, ooh!" Lindsay said. "Do we have to break into song every episode?"

He laughed. "I wish. But no, I was kind of underfunded for that. Now you see, in the first contract Chris gave me, he said that it would have been manditory for him to appear in every episode. But, I worked that out with a counter offer. I don't have to do that, but instead you have to do something for me. You see, what's one way to rank in extra views?"

"Unnecessary graphic violence?" Gwen suggested.

"Yes, but that's not it."

"A game system that makes sense?" Courtney asked.

"This _does_ have that, way ahead of you, but that's not what I was asking for."

"Fights?" Leshawna asked, glancing over at Eva.

"Not quite..."

"Singing?" Lindsay asked.

Ezekiel responded to the last comment with a facepalm.

"Girls in revealing outfits! Don't you get it? That's why this is an all-girls show!"

Beth begin, "Actually, guys-"

"Don't bother with that argument." Justin spoke up. The contestants turned to him, as with Ezekiel upon realizing that the eleven girls weren't looking at him anymore. "I convinced him that good looking guys in swimsuits also bring in ratings - trust me, I know - then he pulled out a counter that that only brings in teens who are 'cheery fangirls,' and that women bring in teens who are 'macho and awesome' and I couldn't convince him otherwise." He rolled his eyes. "Sorry about that. Trust me, when this game is over, you'll all be wanting _me_ to be the host."

Ezekiel raised an eyebrow and smirked. "But you don't think that job could ruin your looks?"

"Yes, I know, I know. Now ladies, I have eleven two-piece bikinis behind me, each custom made for you based on what you signed in for the aplication. Put them on in the communial washrooms, then meet Ezekiel and I by the front side for the promo picture."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Beth: *In a seagreen bikini, with matching armband and sandles.* This is actually a kinda innovative idea! But... I would really like to compete against good looking, half naked guys.

Courtney: *In gray. She is looking down and scowling, before facing the camera to talk.* I'm torn about my boyfriend with this... development. On one hand, of course I want him to see me. On the other hand, I don't want him perving on the other contestants! I'm sorry, if you're watching this, but that _is_ the kind of thing you would do!

Eva: *In navy, smirking* This just gives me the oppertunity to show off my muscles. I'm ripped, and that's gonna scare the fifty grand right out of these campers and give it _aaaallllll_ to me...

Gwen: *In purple, looking at herself.* Did Ezekiel pick these colors based on our auditions? Because I _told_ him my favorite color was midnight blue. Then again, that also looks like Eva's favorite and she... well...

Izzy: *In bright green.* Eh, it's not much different from what I normally wear. More points to Zeksmit for getting this to match the color of those leaves I used!

Katie: *In pink, looking at her feet.* I like how Ezekiel gave each of us shoes with the swimsuits! But why... does it have something to do with the grass?

Ezekiel: Yes, it does.

Sadie: *In bright magenta.* Well, I'm glad about the heat now! Sweet!

Leshawna: *In khaki.* I'm fine with this twist. A new saying some of my friends came up with: The more skin, the better! *Looks at one of the walls nervously.* And the less of that Chris guy, the better. One drive alone and I'm already scared of him.

Lindsay: *In orange, looking at her bikini confusingly.* How come none of us are given yellow? I mean, Leshawna's looks yellow, but it's not a _yellow_ yellow, it's closer to... gray? Because seriously, a rainbow without yellow is an ugly rainbow.

Bridgette: *In light blue, looking around uncertainly.* So... does this mean that if Betty didn't do that thing in my audition, I wouldn't have a chance at getting in? Or...

Heather: *In brown.* Ezekiel obviously came up with this concept just for me. I'm clearly the hottest, and I should be the one to show off my body throughout this whole game. Which I will be, acheiving victory while one by one, every single one of these insufferable, insane, know-it-all losers will get voted off.

Geoff: Hey guys, my name is Geoff and I'm like, the host of these talkshow things that will happen every once-in-a-while called the Aftermaths. You see, when Ezekiel took the promo pic, he introduced me to the camping crew, then told me to introduce myself in here in case he decides that the promo pic taking isn't important. Which... if you're seeing this, he decided. *Jumps up and smiles.* So, my interests are-

* * *

><p><strong>(Camp Outskirts)<strong>

Walking with a smile, Ezekiel led the campers far north into the plains - not to the point where the tall cliff was, but still a considerable distance from the camping area. He stopped once he got to a roofless wooden structure. It was about as tall as an average one-story house, only a little bit wider and longer. There were some paint blotches on it, and no visible entrance on the side Ezekiel and the campers were facing.

"This," Ezekiel said, "Is where your first challenge will be. Before I tell you, let me give you a brief history of Zekitunakwa: This used to have a paintball place until I got the rights to own it for the five weeks in this game we'll spend here. And this was a specific arena. You see, instead of an open-ended field with some structures, some matches here were played only at this square... thing. In every side except the one here, there is an entrance. Your challenge, which will determine the teams later on, is to pick one of those entrances, work your way towards the center, collect a guilded Zeke out of a pile in a pit, and make it out."

"Is that it?" Gwen asked.

"No... but the added challenge won't make this next to impossible. One extra challenge is that this place is actually a maze. Another is that there will be interns patrolling the area with paintball guns. If you are shot, you are out. And lastly, the guilded Zekes may look gold, but they are really just painted glass. So, be careful with them. If one breaks, you're gonna have to go back to the center to get another one. Luckily, we have several. Now, obviously and to make things interesting, you can form small alliances and buddy groups. And to give a little more motivation: The two campers that win first will not only get invincibility, but they get to pick the teams next episode and will be the team captains until the merge unless they get kicked off before that happens."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Beth: Well, I never exactly _led_ before...

Courtney: Yes! This is exactly what I need! A challenge, to show my high physical and mental skill to my competition as a first impression, and the winner gets to pick their own teams, both forcing them to admit that I am the real leader out of these girls, _and_ I get to have all the power. *Leans back and smiles.* This will be an excellent start to me winning the fifty thousand dollars. I really hope my boyfriend is watching this! *Chuckles.* Well, knowing him he probably is. *Sneers.* And to repeat, _especially_ because of this swimsuit gimmick.

* * *

><p><strong>(West Entrance)<strong>

Courtney stood just at the doorless opening, looking away from it and at the other ten contestants.

"Alright, does anyone support me for team leader?" They all exchanged unsure glances. "No? Well, you should. Anyway, my strategy is to memorize and mentally plan out a map of the area. We must not mark things down, or else the interns will know which parts of the maze we did _not_ go through, and we will not mark it down on ourselves in case the interns capture us and use it for their advantage. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Heather said, "Who made you the leader?"

"I am a counselor in training. As such, I have more experience than any of you. I'm the one who should lead and come up with the strategies here, because I know nobody else on this prairie knows how."

"Yeah... no." Heather stated. "Anyone who wants to actually _win_ this, follow me. I'm going to a different entrance so that I won't have to deal with you freaks. If anyone wants to follow me, they may."

Lindsay, Beth, Katie, and Sadie all glanced around at eachother and walked down Heather's path.

"Great!" Courtney shouted. "Now the crazy rebel has followers!" She turned back to the other competetors. "Look, do you want to give yourself a slight chance at winning, or do you want _her_ to win?"

Izzy leaped away.

"You're following Heather too?" Courtney yelled in her direction, even though at that point Izzy wasn't too far from her.

"Nope! I like neither of you! I'm starting my own plan! We burn through those interns with nothing but brute force!"

Eva gruffed, following Izzy.

"Girl, really?" Leshawna asked. "That Izzy seems even worse than Heather!"

Eva scoffed. "Force is my skill, I don't do 'mental maps.'"

Courtney clutched a fist.

"Okay, does _anybody else_ want to abandon their chance at winning the first challenge?"

Bridgette started to slowly sidestep away from the remaining three campers.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: I know the application said that there will be eliminations every three days and this is supposed to be a competetive game, but I just want to hang out with a crowd who wants to have _fun_ here.  
>*Pauses.*<br>But it turned out I went with the wrong crowd for that. Note to self: Get to really _know_ these girls before making assumptions like that about them. I thought Izzy looked more carefree than Gwen, Courtney, and Leshawna combined, but...

* * *

><p><strong>(Heather's Group)<strong>

"So..." Beth said, "How are we going to do this?"

The camper was refering to an intern standing right by a corner. The team of five was still close by the entrance (though there was a hall of decent length before the maze actually opened into the plains), none of them daring to move further.

"Just follow my lead." Heather said, scanning around the area.

"Alright," the self-proclaimed leader finally admitted, "We need a distraction. Who's willing to be bold and take one for the team?"

The four campers exchanged glances. Heather, shaking her head, suddenly grabbed Sadie and tossed her out in front of the intern. Just as the game's help gasped and he shot her with a paintball, Heather and her other three allies darted around her and the intern and into a spot deeper in the maze.

Upon reaching a point they believed was far enough from the first intern, they stopped and started panting.

"That sucked!" Lindsay cried.

"I know, right!" Katie whined. "Sadie's gone already! I'm starting to miss her! Did you know that if we're seperated for too long, she'll break into hives?"

"Calm down!" Heather ordered. "Katie, complaining about how much you missed your best friend even though it's just for one challenge won't get you anywhere! Lindsay, I'm sorry but I had to make a quick move so that we won't be kicked off!"

Beth glared at her. "By sacrificing one of us? All we needed to do was run past that intern guy really fast."

"Um, yeah, I needed to do that. It's called _strategy_. Sadie probably would have slown us down, anyway."

Beth clenched her teeth and shook her fist. "Well fine then! If you're just gonna throw away your allies like that, then I don't want to be in your alliance anymore!" She stormed off, and Heather took off in a seperate direction. Lindsay and Katie worriedly looked at eachother and followed the queen bee.

* * *

><p><strong>(Courtney's Group)<strong>

"Okay now, my memorized map plus the perimeter of this building say that we are... already pretty close to the center." Courtney said, turning to her allies and smiling. "See look, I told you that picking me was a smart move!"

Gwen and Leshawna ran several paces to catch up, then leaned over to pant.

"Yeah," Gwen said, "But you exhausted us in the making. Can't you try something that won't make us double-back so much?"

"Well, yes, I sent you through a path to avoid the interns based on where they were at the time, and by faking them out so much so that they will go away from us. Complain about how tiring it was, but at least we made it before the other groups!"

"Hey, cool!" Izzy voice was heard from not too far down, "It's the center of the room!"

Courtney, Gwen, and Leshawna ran just a little extra and found her, Eva, and Bridgette staring at a square pit, with the pile of glass Ezekiel statues rising from it. There were only two entrances to this room, both facing eachother on opposing sides of the pit. The subgroups were in different sides, in a way surrounding the idols.

"How... how?" Courtney asked. "How did you get here so fast?"

"Well, I threatened the interns," Eva said, smirking.

Courtney burried her face in her arms.

"Fine. Look, we're both anti-Heather groups here, let's... urgh... stick together for the rest of the challenge. That way we can watch eachother's backs."

"Hey, look! I think at least one of them's in the guilded Zeke room! It's the chatty one, right?" A female intern cried.

Several shots were heard and paintball spots began decorating the area, four interns being gathered near the entrance Courtney's group went in, the trio just missing by ducking further into the prize room. Eva's group grabbed one guilded Zeke each, before another shot was heard and Izzy was tossed back. The Zeke she had held had spun in the air before landing on the ground and breaking.

"Izzy?" Bridgette cried, running to her side while Eva simply shrugged and ran out the entrance she came in. Courtney's group ran around the pile, collected the gold, and out the way Eva went.

"Brid... gette..." Izzy stuttered, blatantly overacting. "I've been shot in the side..." Bridgette looked to see a green blotch in the right of Izzy's stomach. "Please... go on without me. You can do it..." she laughed.

The interns all stared in confusing, none of them firing. They parted when Justin walked in on the scene.

"Hey, cool!" He said, "You're ceasing fire in advance because of me." The interns exchanged even more confused glances. "Now, I'm gonna take Izzy to the 'prison cell' closeby, and it will be my duty to keep going after any and all campers that get hit. You - and tell this to all other interns in the area - will do your best to _not_ hit me under any circumstances. Comprehend?"

They nodded.

"Good-"

Justin was cut off when a smirking Bridgette dashed through the brigade of interns, guilded Zeke still in hand.

* * *

><p><strong>(Heather's Group)<strong>

Heather watched from around a corner to see Justin walking down a hall, humming some tune to himself. He was flipping around a set of keys in his hand, and Izzy was following him.

"Aaaaand just down _here_ is where you will be staying for the rest of the challenge. This place was one of the team's bases was back when this was used for Capture the Flag games. The other team's base... was destroyed several years ago in a pretty nasty bulldozer incident."

"Ooh, ooh, tell me about it!" Izzy cheered.

"I don't know much about it myself, but Ezekiel does."

Izzy groaned. "Nevermind."

There was a sound of keys being worked, followed by a slow creek. Heather turned to see that Justin was opening a glass door, connected to an equally glass wall that looked completely out of place compared to the wooden surroundings. As with the rest of the structure, there was no roof. Sadie was also in this glass room, which caused Heather to raise an eyebrow.

"We were originally planning on having everyone eliminated simply spend the rest of the challenge relaxing outside of this building and at the camp site, but then a certain designer thought that this would carry a little more... ambiance that this is some sort of war."

"Designer?"

"Some really wierd chick obsessed with suits. Ezekiel knows her more than I do. Heck, he knows her better than he knows me."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Justin: But by itself, that's not saying much. *Chuckles.*

* * *

><p>"You or Gwen might like her." Justin continued, Izzy getting into the faux-prison cell.<p>

The co-host flipped out a cell phone and continued walking away, Heather and her remaining two allies running up to the glass. Katie in particular was pressed much more.

"SADIE! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"I'M SO GLAD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" She replied. "But... why would you think I'm not alive?"

"Oh... I don't know!" Katie said with a lengthy pause. "I was worried about you when we were seperated!"

"Me too! But I wouldn't go as far as thinking you're dead!"

"Well..."

* * *

><p>Beth stopped at a corner and began panting heavily, back against the wall and lowering herself into a sit. Her arms were pressing a guilded Zeke over her chest. She gasped and rolled down the hall she didn't come from at the sound of footsteps. Footsteps which had passed and softened soon after.<p>

"ATTENTION CAMPERS." Ezekiel's voice echoed throughout the maze in the form of several speakers lined across the tops of the walls, Beth lying down and breathing heavily. "ONE OF YOUR COMPETETORS HAS FOUND THE EXIT TO THE MAZE AND HAS HER GUILDED ZEKE IN TOW. EVERYBODY ELSE, BETTER PICK UP THE PACE, 'CUZ PERSONALY I THINK ALL OF YOU HAVE A SLIGHT CHANCE AT GETTING VOTED OFF. INTERNS, SWITCH THINGS UP A LITTLE. WE'VE ONLY HAD TWO ELIMINATIONS SO FAR. TWO!"

It was then that Beth felt a familiar, low, warm draft. Her gaze moved up to see the opening to the wide, vast plains. "I... I made it." Beth said, smiling. "I'm the winner!"

After cheering the second part, Courtney, Gwen, Eva, and Leshawna all turned to the source of the voice at a particular direction. A shot was heard, followed by Beth crying "Shoot!"

"Okay, that means that the exit is somewhere around here!" Courtney ordered, "I heard Beth's voice from that direction, that's why we should look there!"

Eva sneered and went the direction opposite of where Courtney was guestering.

"Eva?"

"I need to find Bridgette. That little nature girl betrayed all of us by standing by Izzy." She turned to the remaining three campers. "You saw that, right? And then she just... ran off into a completely seperate direction, AWAY FROM US!"

Leshawna glared at her. "Girl, need I remind you that _you_ broke away from _Courtney_ to start off your own little group. And I'm sure threatening hitting everybody to get through this mess is _not_ what Ezekiel had in mind when he was thinkin' up this challenge."

Eva gruffed. "Yeah, but that was strategy. What Bridgette just did was cowardance."

"What's the difference?" Gwen asked, crossing her arms.

"The _difference_ is that Bridgette left us in action and I broke off before the challenge even begun."

* * *

><p><strong>(Heather's Alliance)<strong>

"Lindsay, would you stop looking for Katie! We lost her, can't we just go on?"

"But I thought we could all win this!"

"There's only two spots open for victory, and one of them's taken! In fact, as alliance leader I should leave you here right now!"

"Hey!"

"What?" Heather shouted. "If I were the team captain anyway, I would pick a team with all of my followers in it. And you should pick the same thing, right?"

"Well... what if I don't want to?"

Heather glared at Lindsay. "If you don't want... that's it, give me this."

She grabbed the guilded Zeke and started tugging at it right from Lindsay's hands.

"Give it to me!"

"No! You already have one!"

"What if the one I already had breaks? These stupid things are made of glass after all!"

"Then I can be the other team captain!"

Heather let go on that, and fell to the grass. She looked back up at Lindsay with a wide-eyed gasp.

"You... leading something?" She said.

This was followed by a laugh. A disgusted Lindsay glanced at Heather and took off into a random direction.

"Hey! I'm the alliance leader here! _You_ follow _me_!" She shouted, trailing the blonde.

Before either of them knew it, they ran past Katie by the cell again, who whipped her head around at the two.

"Hey, wait!" She cried, finally turning her attention away from the happy Sadie and rather bored Izzy. "I forgot about you two!"

Unfortunatley, they ran past Katie's line of sight. She turned 180 degrees at the sound of a click, with Sadie and Izzy instinctivley following in spite of their eliminations.

"Hold it right there." The intern said, slowly stepping closer. "Now, my aim is kinda bad, but you- you kinda lost already. So moving will not save you now-"

"Let me take over."

Justin's voice rang that comment from around a corner. He followed in person after, with a frowning Beth trailing him.

"Beth didn't win?" Katie asked.

"No," Justin said, swipping the gun right out of the intern's hand. "And neither will you. Just because she found the exit and had her Zeke doesn't mean she actually _completed_ the challenge by getting out yet."

Katie shrieked, and darted in a random path opposite of Justin's direction.

* * *

><p><strong>(Courtney's Group)<strong>

"Alright, based on my coordinates the exit by Beth should be riiiiight... there!"

Courtney steped out from a corner as she said the closing part of the statement, and pointed at 'There!' However, actually looking 'there' made her gasp. The other three contestants followed down the corner and gasped as well.

There was half a dosen green-haired interns, all standing right in front of the opening and all armed. They looked at the campers and glared.

"Wow." Gwen said. "Any advice, Ms. CIT?"

Courtney laughed nervously. "Um... well, there's two more exits we can try. Um... based on the sun's position this is the West exit, which means we should go North... OH JUST RUN AND I'LL COME UP WITH A PLAN LATER!"

She, Gwen, and Leshawna ran off, screaming, with Eva staying put in the hall.

"I DARE you to take me on!"

Some of the interns began to dash foreward, before the single one dressed in red spoke.

"Don't chase after the others." She said. "Ezekiel warned us about Eva, remember? It might take the six of us to stop her."

After finishing that statement, the girl found her paintgun getting punched in half by the brute. The remaining five reaimed, and while Eva did manage to kick apart the gun of the green-clad intern girl of the group, the yellow, blue, purple, and white wearing ones shot a barrage of paint. Eva was knocked back into the wall, the guilded Zeke in her hand falling to the floorless grass and breaking.

* * *

><p><strong>(Heather's Group)<strong>

"There!" Courtney's voice was heard nearby. Heather listened, leaning up against a wall with her head reaching as far out as possible. "I know for a fact that the North exit is just a few turns away!"

Heather smirked.

"By the way, you all do know that there were a lot of dead-ends in this maze, so we should split up at any turn we come across. I mean, this _is_ every camper for herself after all."

"And what?" It was Gwen's voice. "Let the navigator, which by the way might be your only skill, take the win instead?"

"Only skill? I'll have you know that I am at the top in terms of strength, a super athlete, a chef, a cheerleader, a great singer, AND I can withstand almost anything! What have YOU done?"

Heather's smirk widened.

"Alright Lindsay," She finally spoke, "_Now_ we make our mark."

"Is this why we've been standing around right at this entrance?" Lindsay asked. "I gave up a perfectly good almost-rebellion... for this?"

The active camera spun around to show that, yes, the two campers were right by the North entrance/exit the entire time. The trademark warm winds of the region were felt to a greater degree than they were while softened by the maze's wooden walls, letting the grass in the outer area move freely and grow slightly taller from the improved sunlight.

"Yes. Now, what we're gonna do is a simple little prank that I like to call, 'Lindsay is a table.'"

"Hey!" She beamed back. "I am not!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Courtney's Group)<strong>

"Alright!" Courtney cried, jumping into another three-way intersection while Gwen and Leshawna stayed in the side without a hall opposing it. "There should only be a few turns left and-"

She was cut off when a strong, fast-moving brown blur smacked into her. She and whatever had hit her spun around, and two golden blurs flew through the air. After all three of these objects hit the ground, the gold shattering, it was clear who caused that.

"Katie!" Courtney cried, pushing the other girl in question off of her and looking at the golden glass shrapnel. "You ran into me! You broke my guilded Zeke!"

Gwen and Leshawna looked at eachother.

"Girl," Leshawna said, "You could still run back to the center and get a new one. I mean, it's not like either of us has a garunteed win."

Courtney got on her knees and examined the shrapnel that she thought used to be the guilded Zeke she was holding (By the way, according to a slowed down replay it wasn't.)

"You..." She said, picking up the shards. "You..."

"I'm sorry... no wait! I work for Heather! What I mean to say is, it serves you right!"

Courtney jumped back up yet and and grabbed Katie by the shoulders, looking furious. Before Ezekiel would have to worry about a live murder occuring on his show however, shots were heard and before either of them knew it the two girls were tossed into the grass again, this time with green blotches of paint on them. Gwen and Leshawna shrank back into the hall before the crossing.

Justin laughed. "And that makes... six. Six girls eliminated." He went to the campers that were just shot, with a pair of interns following him. "You two, take them to the cell. I can't waste my time here."

"Oh crap." Gwen whispered to Leshawna. "We better hurry. Which way did Courtney say we need to go?"

"I think to us, from here, it's to the right."

"So... the opposite of where Katie came from? That makes sense."

"Yeah."

Justin turned his head, and the duo darted out and into the direction they discussed prior. What followed was the pair making a series of sharp turns, constantly running from the co-host shooting green paint at them.

"Hey!" Justin cried, running at about their pace. "It's nice that Ezekiel decided to put the pale one in purple, and the dark one in khaki! Color contrast! Makes for some real easy targets!"

"Dude!" Leshawna cried, along with Gwen she was looking back in terror. "This boy is crazy!"

"No, he just _really_ enjoys this game." Gwen said, volume almost as loud as Leshawna's comment right before. "Trust me. I know crazy."

It was then that they felt themselves flung in the air, tripping over something. Both of them lost grip of their guilded Zekes, and watched in horror as their respective tokens of victory hit the grass and, as with Izzy's, Eva's, Courtney's ,and Katie's, completely shattered.

Following the sound of breaking glass was Heather laughing. The last two members of Courtney's group turned back to see Lindsay leaned over on her elbows and knees.

"See Lindsay?" Heather teased, not looking at the blonde but rather their opponents. "I said you would make an excellent table."

Lindsay got up. "Hey, you were right! Maybe you aren't so bad after all!"

"Fine!" Gwen jumped up, throwing her arms straight up in the air. "You got me eliminated, I don't care anymore! It's not like I would make a good team leader, and I'm pretty sure Courtney has a bigger chance at getting voted off than I do anyway!"

"I see someone's resigning?" Justin said, stepping around the corner.

"Now's our chance, Lindsay!" Heather cried, pointing in a direction. "Run, go to the exit!"

Gwen and Leshawna looked at the direction Heather was pointed in and gasped upon seeing the doorway leading to the open praries.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Gwen: You're telling me that Heather and Lindsay had the chance to win at any time, but they wanted to stay here and get us eliminated first instead? That's just... _mean_. Not in a good way. Pure _spite_.

Leshawna: Okay, I don't care what Gwen says about _Heather_, but I know she _is_ crazy.

Heather: It's called making a first impression. I wanted to show whoever's left of these losers that I can impose a strong hold over them, and be a real bully if you get on my bad side. You try to oppose me, and you go down. *Files nails with a smile.*

* * *

><p>"Oh no you don't!" Leshawna called.<p>

What followed was a lengthy series of steps that, in spite of its complexity, must have happened in under a minute. A minute and a half, tops. Leshawna charged, rapidly catching up with Heather and causing Lindsay to freeze in fright, holding up her guilded Zeke right up against herself as though she was defending it with her own life. The large camper jumped foreward, pulling down the bottom of Heather's Total Zeksmit bikini which in turn caused her to trip over. Her guilded Zeke, as well, fell out of her hands and broke on the ground. Unlike the previous four campers who lost their Zekes in similar ways, Heather did not fall over completely. She instead regained her balance and, while the bikini bottom fell down her ankles and off her feet, charged over to Lindsay.

"ALRIGHT LINDSAY, YOU KNOW THE RULES OF MY ALLIANCE! I LOST MY GUILDED ZEKE, AND NOW YOU GIVE ME YOUR'S!"

Unlike her reaction to Leshawna's battle cry, Lindsay stared Heather down as she charged towards her. Heather brought a clawed hand up to try to snatch the golden replica right out of the blonde's hands, but was met with a swift fist to the face.

Justin had made it to the final corner of the maze just before the exit, and looked at the scene in awe.

"No!" Lindsay shouted. "I don't want to be a part of your stupid alliance anymore! That Beth girl was right!" She looked at her own hand and frowned. "But I didn't mean to punch you! That was just a reflex! And you looked scary!"

Justin shook his head as though he was getting out of a trance, and aimed his paint gun.

"Sorry ladies." He said, "I guess it's down to sudden death."

Gwen caught sight of Lindsay's guilded Zeke and jumped at her just as another barrage of shot was unleashed. The shots were only aimed towards the middle portion of the hall, which hit Leshawna and had Heather following (the latter getting hit in her bare rear). Gwen, however, had tackled Lindsay to a low point where one of the walls met the ground.

After he noticed that he couldn't shoot Lindsay and Gwen this way, Justin jumped out right in front of where they were by and aimed his paint gun right at them. Gwen sighed, murmered. "Lindsay, just run. You won." and...

There was nothing following the click.

"Aw shoot!" Justin shouted. "I wasted all my ammo!" He sighed. "Leshawna, Heather, follow me to the cells where you can wash up a little. I guess I'll see these two fight eachother for the winning spot when the episode is being editted. Or when it airs, for that matter."

As they grudgingly followed the co-host (Heather picking up the bikini bottom upon passing it, but not putting it on), Gwen got off of Lindsay and sat facing her.

"Okay, you may have tripped me and caused me the match, but what you did to Heather was kinda cool- no, the tripping part was also pretty cool."

"Actually, the table thing was Heather's idea."

"Oh."

Brief silence.

"So... why aren't you going out there?" Gwen picked up a few seconds later.

"Out where?"

"In the plains, so that you can win the challenge! I think Beth won already, so there's no point in going back to the center and rushing out with another guilded whatever-it's-called."

"Oh. Well... you know..."

She looked around the ground, uncertain, before finally looking back up at Gwen and smiling. "I think I owe you one." She continued. "You see, you only lost your guilded Zebes because Heather ordered me to pull a mean trick on you. One that didn't even make sense! So, to show that I am really, absolutely out of her alliance for good, I want to give you this."

She stretched out hands out, offering the guilded Zeke.

"Wow. Really?"

"Yes! I think _you_ might make a good team leader! Well, at least better than me! Oh also, if I get out then that means Beth and I can't be on the same team - oh right, Beth didn't win. So... well yeah, still, better leader and everything!"

"No, I- well..."

Gwen sighed, grabbing the golden glass. "Fine. Thanks."

The purple clad goth stood up facing the exit/entrance, smiled, and ran to the goal.

* * *

><p><strong>(Northern Entrance)<strong>

Gwen bolted out of the open doorway, slowing her run down to a jog, and then a very slow walk after completely realizing that she was now safe.

"Hello? Is anyone out there? Beth? Am I the only one who made it?"

"Nope." She heard Ezekiel's voice from some direction behind her.

Gwen turned and saw the host walking towards her from the Eastern entrance. Bridgette was following him, flipping a guilded Zeke in the air and catching it several times.

"Congrats, Gwen, you and Bridgette are the first winners of a challenge in _Total Zeksmit Plains_ yo! You two get immunity and in three days you will be picking the teams! So for the rest of the day until the voting ceremony comes, you may relax. But tell the others that they will not be resting in peace for the rest of the day, for they all have a chance at being voted off!"

Gwen laughed. "Well, I don't think _all_ of them have a chance at being voted off. By the way, since win did Bridgette win?"

"Back when I announced that someone found the exit with their guilded Zeke. That was her. She finished _way_ before anyone else got close eh. Well, aside from Beth."

"Oh." Gwen said. "And Beth?"

Ezekiel shrugged. "Yeah, I thought I heard Lindsay tell you. Apparantly she got eliminated."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: I didn't think I would pass a challenge like this so... *Small laugh* easily. To me it didn't take any effort. So when I heard that eight of the campers were eliminated and I got out first it felt a little... unexpected.

Gwen: Sooooo... team captain. And I get to stay here for another three days. Another three days with a redneck, creepy model, and most of these girls, many of them are clearly insane. The host of the Aftermaths at least seems normal, but I'm not gonna see him until I finally get out of this humid prarie. *Looks up.* You know, this place is really more like a flat jungle.

* * *

><p><strong>(Elimination Ceremony)<strong>

Ezekiel stood on the stage and behind the podium, he and Justin facing the bleachers seated by the campers dressed in the outfits they arrived in. Ezekiel cleared out his throat, and motioned towards his co-host, who had been holding a plate with ten marshmallows on it. A cardboard box was between the two hosts. All an image painted in the night that would later on create worry and uncertanty for the contestants, with the number of marshmallows changed of course.

"Alright campers." He said, arms behind his back and giving a wide grin. "Do not think for a _second_ that the rest of the game will be as easy as your first challenge. That was only a warmup. The eleven of you were picked out among a... few others who auditioned, and while you eleven were fit to handle this show, only ten of you will be fit to survive for three more nights and undergo the next challenge, eh.

"Since this is your first time here, I'll give a lowdown on how to vote."

He opened the box and grabbed eleven small electronic devices, gathering them with both of his hands.

"These are your voting devices." Justin grabbed three from his hands and walked over to the campers, handing the electronics to them one by one. "All ya' gotta do is tap the icon of the camper you wanted voted off, and you would have submitted a vote. It's that simple." He went back to Ezekiel, grabbed a few more, and repeated this process of handing them out until there were none left. "By the way, Bridgette and Gwen's icons are darked because they have immunity, so don't even bother voting for them. And finally, should you try to peek at another's votes, you're gone. You may tell someone who you voted for, or you can deliberately show who you voted for, but you cannot onlook another's choice."

The podium beeped, and a paper was fed out of it with the sound of working machines at the process of printing it. Ezekiel, with a sudden swipe, took the paper out and laughed.

"Wow, fast vote huh? When I was on EMDHS that didn't happen. So, when I call your name, you get to walk up to grab a marshmallow. These marshmallows indicate safety, and are my way of saying that you get to stay in the game. First up, our two with immunity, Bridgette and Gwen.

"The next five of you girls didn't get a single vote at all, which in some cases is rather surprising. Izzy, you're safe. Beth, you're staying here for at least three more nights. Lindsay, don't pack your bags. Sadie, you get to stick around and lighten up the mood for our fellow campers." He snickered at that remark. "And Eva, you have the oppertunity to continue terrorizing and scaring the pants off of everybody. Which I think some of the viewers would _like_, heh heh."

Katie began biting her nails with Sadie following as Ezekiel's eyes went down the paper. "Now this one is kind of odd. At one vote, we have Katie. Congrats, you get to stay with Sadie."

"Yay!" They both jumped on the bleachers.

"Leshawna, you better watch yourself. You got two votes! And finally, this girl _really_ should watch herself, having three."

"Three people voted for _me_?" Heather stood up. "Alright, whoever you are, after this I'm gonna make your life on this prarie miserable!"

"No, you have _five_ votes." Courtney spat. "Do the math. One person voted for Katie, two for Leshawna, and three for _me_. That leaves five people for you."

"Excuse me? What makes you think that _you're_ the one with the least votes?"

"Because I'm a CIT. I would be highly demanded as a teammate. You're just some bossy girl nobody likes."

"I was liked back at my highschool!"

"Well your highschool has a bad taste in..." She paused, clearly trying to find a vaguely proper insult. "People!"

"Urgh, you think my highschool is bad? Who elected you CIT?"

"_Being a CIT doesn't work that way!_"

Ezekiel laughed. "Yeah, let's just say both of you are bad and move on. You both held a really tyranical rule over your respective alliances, which would make it pretty interesting if you two ever actually clashed with eachother. As much as I would like to call off the elimination so that you two could cause some serious drama on this show, that would unbalance the teams, make me have to come up with a new episode, and most importantly it would be very unfair and Chris-like. So, one of you will stop bringing drama after this. And the person who will continue to boss over everyone else is...

...

...

He raised a hand and pointed between the two girls. Neither of which seemed intimidated by getting voted off. Heather had her head rested on her hand and was leaning back on the seats, which Courtney crossed her arms over her chest and simply wanted the ceremony to be over with.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Courtney! You get the show's first last marshmallow!"

"WHAT?" Heather stood up again, turning to the other ten campers and fuming. "How could you have chosen _her_ over _me_?"

Ezekiel laughed again.

"Heather, please pack your bags and head over to the Car of Failure, where you will be driven away from here."

"NO WAY!" She shouted. "Please tell me that this isn't it? Do I get to come back as a viewer's favorite?"

Ezekiel put on another trickster smirk. "Even if I did do Chris-like things like bringing people back on the show, I _doubt_ you're a viewer favorite."

"Can I at least be an intern? To pull pranks on everybody?"

"Nah, I wouldn't trust you at all. My interns are supposed to have a really unbias mindset. Plus, you wouldn't really like the job. But, I'll tell you what, I _do_ have a special role in mind for the first camper voted off: You get to co-host the Aftermaths with Geoff... but it's nothing really big. In fact, it's just filler and an excuse to show the people that were already voted off."

Heather scowled, darting off into the cabins. A black car drove amongst the lightly paved road in the middle of the tall grassy fields. She returned shortly after with her luggage.

"Fine then!" She shouted to Ezekiel, then turning to the ten campers still in the game to finish. "When the Aftermaths come by, I'll be sure to exploit you as much as possible!"

The only major sounds following that were from the jet black car and its trip early into the night; the door being slammed shut, the engine driving it down into the small parting in the woods where the straight road continued, dying out to the chirps of crickets and the low buzz of countless insects that roamed the empty countryside.

The silence was finally broken by Leshawna.

"That girl was _popular_ somewhere?"

Everyone laughed.

"Well," Ezekiel said to the active camera after his laughter fit ended, "One down, nine to go before we'll find out who wins this miniseries! Stay tuned for the next episode of Total. Zeksmit. Plains!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Audition - Heather)<strong>

Heather emerged from a swimming pool in a brown bikini.

"Hello, _Zeksmit_." She said with an obviously forced giggle. "I really hope you think of me as deserving a spot on your own show. I know that Chris would have picked me to compete against you, but your cousin somehow got in over me by a very, _very_ small- oh, what am I saying? I just want to ask you to choose me, because as you can tell from my bio I can add _quite_ the drama to this show. And I know I'll last a _long_ time. So pick me. You won't regret it."

The camera cut to static.

* * *

><p><strong>Votes:<strong>

Beth: Heather

Bridgette: Heather

Courtney: Katie

Eva: Courtney

Gwen: Courtney

Heather: Leshawna

Izzy: Heather

Katie: Leshawna

Leshawna: Heather

Lindsay: Heather

Sadie: Courtney

**Total:**

Bridgette and Gwen - Immune

Katie - 1

Leshawna - 2

Courtney - 3

Heather - 5

* * *

><p><strong>Teams:<strong>

**Team Captain 1:** Bridgette

**Team Captain 2:** Gwen

**Remaining, not a Captain:** Beth, Courtney, Eva, Izzy, Katie, Leshawna, Lindsay, Sadie

**Eliminated:** Heather

* * *

><p><strong>Closing AN:<strong>

The basic idea behind the changes for this chapter is that the storyline remains the same, except it's moved at a much faster pace. I mean, this has about 61.9 KB, whereas the file for the old version had up to 76.3.

"Zekitunakwa" was just a name I made up. There isn't a real location with that name, or at least it wasn't named after it if there is. I wanted all of the campsites featured here to have names that end in "-Nakwa." And there is kind of an in-story reason for that, but you won't have to worry about it for a _**long**_ time. In fact, this reason might not come to be.

And no, Heather is not returning to compete. There will never be any complete returns in this fan competition (aside from future seasons, but that's at the beginning, not the middle), although I am working for something very late down this series that isn't a full return. And no, it's not "They get to come back as interns!" I'm sorry, but I personally don't like that idea. My profile gives away what the 'limited return' option I'm taking is, so you could either spoil yourself there or simply wait until I reach that point.

Originally, Beth and Eva were supposed to be redone in this universe to look more attractive to fit with the fan service, of which it sort of had a bigger hold over the show's design than it does now. Does it still apply here? I myself haven't decided yet. You can try to picture a beautified Beth and Eva competing in this if you want, but for now their states will be open to interpretation. Hensewhy nobody mentioned their looks outside of Eva bringing up her own fitness (which was a constant anyway). **Quick Edit:** Okay, later chapters (I'll just say early-installment weirdness and leave it at that) have comments that imply that they look like their canon designs, but if it really bugs you you can just ignore this I guess. I don't know. Why am I telling you how to make fanservice out of fanon?

Next up: **Rather Plain Sports**. Bridgette and Gwen pick their teams, and the ten campers face off in three sports-related challenges. One team earns their very first win, while one of the five out of the other team loses.


	2. Rather Plain Sports

**Total Zeksmit Plains**

**Chapter 2: Rather Plain Sports**

**Beginning AN:**

This is probably going to be the longest wait for chapters in TZP, even counting a few other possible 'blocks' I might hit due to not being so interested on the challenge's subject manner.

**Edit:** This doesn't matter much now, but thanks to chapter 4 that simply isn't true. _That_ will be the longest wait.

* * *

><p>Ezekiel narrates over an image of Zekitunakwa, "Last time on <em>Total Zeksmit Plains<em>...

"Pfft, you should probably know that! After all, the last episode is easily available for viewing on the web, if you want to refresh your memory. But don't worry, these episodes really add up, so there will be recaps... just not until the Aftermaths. Which might take a while eh. Either way, you're not getting any quick refreshers just yet, but don't worry because the plot here isn't super complicated and I'm sure that you can just guess what's happening.

"At least, I hope..."

*Cue intro*

* * *

><p><strong>(Campgrounds)<strong>

Eva tapped her foot just by the door to the west cabin, Ezekiel standing on the opposite side of the wooden structure that led to the door itself and leaning back on the railing with his arms crossed.

"How long will this take again?" Eva asked.

"I have no idea eh." Ezekiel replied with a sigh. "I did not expect this show to be full of heavy sleepers when I won the 'host your own show' challenge."

"Why don't you just speak into that megaphone of yours? Or something? What's the difference between that and what Justin is trying to do?"

"Justin's using an actual method of waking up the campers. Look, this megaphone is a little louder and I'm much closer, to use _that_ to wake them up would be flat-out sadistic!"

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!" Justin then rang from the speakers at the center as if on cue. Ezekiel and Eva shook at the sound. "THE CHALLENGES FOR TODAY WILL BEGIN IN ONE HOUR. PLEASE WAKE UP AND GET READY TO ENTER YOUR TEAMS."

The door to the West Cabin swung open and Gwen stepped out, looking at Eva curiously.

"You're up early." She said.

"It's all part of the game." Eva replied. "Justin told us yesterday that today's the day for the challenge. I set my alarm to wake up about... three hours ago."

"Three hours?" Gwen's eyes opened with surprise. Leshawna, Courtney, and Izzy exited behind her. "How is that even possible? None of us heard you!"

"You should have. This guy might challenge a lot later down the road."

"That I do," Ezekiel said with a smile. "It's nice that you don't underestimate the later episode's extreme difficulty."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Gwen: Voting for Heather was the toughest decision I made in my life. Because kicking off Eva and Courtney were also good ideas. *Groans.* I'm glad I won last challenge. I get to pick out my team so that I don't end up on a team with _both_ of them. Then again, who would even _want_ them both on a team? Or even one of them, for that matter?

* * *

><p>Bridgette gracefully stepped out of the East Cabin, the remaining four campers following.<p>

"Alright!" Ezekiel cried. "Bridgette, our other team captain, is up!" He turned to the blonde he mentioned. "Now, will you and Gwen please step by the flagpole and will the rest of you stand in a line facing them?"

They arranged as such.

"We'll do this school-yard style. Bridgette, because you won the challenge before Gwen, you get to go first. Pick one of these eight here," he guestured to the line, "To be on your team-"

"Izzy." She said as though she was on a time limit. The called out contestant skipped to Bridgette's side.

"Gwen," Ezekiel continued, "You're next."

"I pick Leshawna." Gwen said, Leshawna following over to her side.

"Bridgette?" Ezekiel asked.

"I pick Eva."

Once she went to Bridgette and Izzy, Eva glared at the to-be team captain.

"Yes," Bridgette said, "I know we had a bad start, but if we get to know eachother more by being on the same team, hopefully we can make it up!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: Do I want to be Eva's _friend_? No! But I want to do everything I can to keep her from killing me! And this was the only option I had. I mean, this may look bad _now_, but if she was _against_ me?

Gwen: Nice team picking, Bridgette. *Chuckles, then sighs.* Actually, Bridgette's a pretty cool person. I didn't think I would _want_ to force her with Courtney but...

* * *

><p>"Lindsay." Gwen continued, ignoring a gasp from Courtney. "I mean, after all, I owe you one."<p>

"Sadie."

Gwen gave Bridgette a confused look.

"PLEASE DON'T PICK ME GWEN!" Katie shouted, "I want to be with Sadie!"

"I... never had any plans for picking you. Which is why I pre-planned picking Beth."

Courtney gasped again. "NO! Bridgette, you pick me! You _better_ pick me! I'm a CIT, for crying out loud! I don't deserve to be the last-in-line! The leftover!"

"Nobody says that I don't _want_ you on my team..." Gwen spoke up.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Gwen: ...I was about to get her slammed right into me instead. *Continues her deadpan look at the camera.* Great. Problem solved.  
>Gwen: *Looks around the floor before looking back at the lens to continue.* Okay, my team was pre-planned to have Izzy, Leshawna, Lindsay, and Beth. And happy that Bridgette... pretty much read my mind right there. With one exception...<p>

Bridgette: Pick Courtney and have to deal with Sadie, who's already been bossed around and used by Heather, making me feel bad, or pick Katie and become enemies with Courtney. *Sighs.* My fourth day here and I already have to make such a tough choice. Maybe they'll realize that this is just a game, and even though there's fifty thousand dollars on the line they- oh who am I kidding...

* * *

><p>"Katie." Bridgette finally said, resulting in the screams of the former CIT.<p>

"Well!" Ezekiel announced, "Courtney, that means that you go over to Gwen's team. And if Justin's here, then by now you would know _what_ the name of the team is!"

After a few seconds of inactivity, Justin ran in carrying two rolled up banners. One red and one green. Ezekiel swiped them out of his hands with a scowl.

"Mind telling me why that took so long? The walk to get from the production tent to here isn't that long."

Justin glared at his boss. "_You_ left the banners in PDL! I had to drive all the way over there and back, and Heather tried to ambush me for some reason!"

"I did?" Ezekiel laughed. "Oh crap, I _did_! Sorry about that."

"Sorry? Urgh!" He trudged off into the mess hall. Ezekiel held up the banners.

"Bridgette," He said while throwing the green banner, "From here until the merge your team will be known as... the Screaming Buffalo!"

Bridgette caught the banner and unrolled it to show a buffalo facing the right side, holding a menacing glare.

"Cool! We're Buffalo!" Izzy cheered.

"And Gwen," He continued, "You girls will be... the Killer Jackrabbits!"

He threw the red banner over to that group of five, Gwen catching it and unrolling it to reveal a rabbit facing left in a stereotypical kung-fu stance.

"Nice." Gwen smiled.

"Alright, now that that's done you have one hour to change into the TZ swimsuits and hang around before meeting me at the open prairie for the first of your three challenges for today. I would tell you the exact area you would have to get to, but... I'm sure that you'll find it yourselves."

* * *

><p><strong>(Baseketball Field)<strong>

In spite of being an obvious basket ball field the area was completely unpaved; the baskets sticking right out of the grass itself. These goals in question were colored by team: one green, and one red. The borders were only lightly outlined by chalk, and midway between the two baskets and a little out of the bounds was a small scoreboard on a post sticking out just like the baskets themselves, with a red "0" to the left (also the same side as the red basket) and a green one to the right. Beneath these was a set of blue display numbers reading "2:00."

"Alright, everyone!" Ezekiel cheered while dribbling a solid black ball. "Welcome to the first part of our threefold sports challenge! First up: Basketball! Team Captain will select three teammates, one of them could be themselves, and they will play a timed round of basketball for two minutes. First to get two points wins."

He tossed the ball high up into the air and caught it with both hands, holding it out as though he was trying to show the campers.

"To throw a little twist, this here is actually timed to explode into blue paint when the two minutes are over. The team with the ball when it explodes instantly loses, even if they had a one point lead. So as to discourage camping. For your convenience, that scoreboard over there," he pointed to it, keeping his other hand on the ball. "Also displays the time left in those bright, blue, safe numbers. Once they reach one minute, they turn a warning yellow, and then an alarming orange at the thirty second mark. You know, to add more pressure.

"This challenge is gonna be a lot different. I mean, not just because you're in teams, but that plays a big role in it. The whole thing is organized so that each teammate competes in two challenges while those that don't compete get to be 'cheerleaders,' and I'd like to get stuff like that out of the way while the teams are garunteed to be even. But also because it's possibly the _only_ pre-merge challenge where I hand out invincibility to someone in the loser team. Note the word possibly, everyone! If one team wins this and the other team wins the next challenge, then the third part will be a simple determination of immunity. The team that loses that third part will have anyone up for grabs. However, if one team wins both of the first two challenges, I don't want that third one to go to waste. I put a lot of effort into that, yo! So if the team that won the first two challenges wins this one, they get a special reward where they can preview an upcoming movie of mine!"

Several of the campers gagged.

"If they lose, well... the challenge was organized so that there will be one real 'winner.' That person will gain invincibility for the ceremony-"

"So wait." Courtney broke in. "You're rewarding someone on the losing team?"

"Yes, but only because they earned it. Someone should not be open to getting booted off just because they're on a team with four failures."

Ezekiel sighed. "There was going to be specific, special costumes for the cheerleaders, but we couldn't get them in time. So instead we just have pom-poms in the camper's selected colors that you just sorta wave around."

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

"Okay," Gwen said, "I'm picking myself, along with miss-athletic over there."

The other four campers of the team exchanged glances.

"Who, me?" Courtney finally said.

"Obviously. Now, the third member of my team will be..."

She looked around. Beth was raising her hand, Leshawna stood with her arms crossed, and Lindsay was jumping while quietly saying "Let me be a cheerleader!"

"Lindsay!" She said.

"What?" Courtney shouted.

Gwen shrugged. "She's a good jumper."

"But- The- She..."

"Girl," Courtney felt Leshawna, the origin of that voice, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Everyone has to compete twice anyway."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: Urgh! What a moron! I swear, if _I_ could get my hands on this team, I can turn it around and lead a flawless victory streak! If only I had someone to root for me! *Looks around nervously.* Seriously, just one person would do!

Gwen: Now that I think about it, this game isn't even half bad. Courtney's annoying, but if we lose she's so getting voted off. *Chuckles, then sighs.* Eva on the other hand... is going to be a problem.

Eva: Goody two-shoes Bridgette makes me realize that there's not enough girls here who take me seriously. If I want to be more intimidating, I'm gonna need muscle. *Looks at her arms.* Well, more muscle of course. *Kisses forearm.*

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"Alright," Bridgette directed, "I am a total klutz and I believe the first challenge is the easier to screw up because we're just settling into the theme for today. So I'm letting myself out here. Izzy, you're prone to causing injury... moreso than anybody else in this team, anyway. I think you should stay out too.

"But this is even better. Eva, you're very strong. And Katie and Sadie... get along nicely. So this would make a good impact on the Killer Jackrabbits as our first go as a team. Who's with me?"

Five hands shot up in the air. (Izzy being the source of two of them.)

* * *

><p>Ezekiel sat on the scoreboard, eating a sandwich with two flags bearing the team colors resting on the board becides him. The hand not grasping a sandwich held a remote. "Justin," he said, "I'm ready, they're ready, begin round one."<p>

Justin took two steps foreward and dropped the ball right in the center of the field, where Gwen and Eva were standing in. He blew his whistle, and in a quick move Eva already charged to the ball and stole it just after Ezekiel pressed a button on his remote and started the countdown.

The navy glad muscle girl ran to the other two Jackrabbits after making a swift run past Gwen. Lindsay shrieked, jumping to the side away from her sole opponent in her team's half of the minimalistic court, and falling to the grass. Gwen gave the blonde a look.

"What?" She said, "Eva was scary. I didn't see _you_ try to stop her."

"That's because her speed caught me off guard. You had more time to react to it-"

They both turned when they heard something of a battle cry from Courtney. Just as quickly as Eva snatched the ball from the co-host, Courtney had leaped to tackle her down. The two struggled in the grass for a few seconds, mostly trying to reach their arms out to claw eachother, and eventually Courtney knocked the ball away from Eva's hands.

"Katie! Sadie!" The loser of this small battle barked to her teammates. "Get over here!"

They both flinched.

"_Now!_"

As they began running across the field, Gwen grabbed the ball and dribbled it to the opposing basket. Courtney had made some fleeting attempt to get back up, which was met with a variant of a suplex throw from Eva onto the grass. After seeing Gwen dart away from the scene, Eva herself began to charge at her.

Gwen got halfway to the midpoint mark before realizing that she was surrounded. Having someone with such speed as Eva right behind her was almost equivalent to running from a moving spiked wall. Continuing the metephor, Katie and Sadie running at her from the other side took enough space to form a second, if not-spiked wall. But she decided not to be picky about her metaphors. A wall is a wall, and that meant a clear steal. So she did the only logical thing she could think of: Passing to Lindsay.

The ditz screamed again at getting the ball when the three rival campers started changing their course of direction to her. In a reflex, she dropped the ball to hold her hands out in defense. An action that the three Screaming Buffalo did not seem to notice before tackling her.

While on the ground, Gwen smiled at the black ball rolling towards her and took the oppertunity, grabbing it and dashing to the goal while the Screaming Buffalo were briefly, aimlessly looking around Lindsay for any possible signs of the ball. It was only after earning the first point for the Killer Jackrabbits that Eva turned around, pointed at the post-goal ball, and shouted "She's got the ball!"

Justin blew on his whistle as Ezekiel paused the timer, displaying a full, reasuring one minute with eight seconds adding on to that in brilliant blue light. The host raised the red flag.

"Point for the Killer Jackrabbits! Now, after a goal there's a ten second rest period. Try to get your team organized as much as you can in such a short interval."

Everyone got into the same spots as before in less than half of the given break time. Gwen and Eva facing eachother near the middle, Katie and Sadie being at equal distance from eachother and the Killer Jackrabbit's goal, Lindsay being behind Gwen and off to the side, and Courtney directly defending the goal. The rest of the break was used on Courtney recovering and getting up from the suplex throw, a feat that was only done partially.

"Round two!" The host shouted as the co-host whistled.

* * *

><p><strong>(Sidelines)<strong>

Izzy leaped to Bridgette with a cheer and a wide grin. "So Bridgette, our team just lost! Why didn't you pick me for this again?"

She looked away and sighed. "Because you could get someone hurt- and so that you can show your potential in the next two rounds-"

Ezekiel blew his whistle. "Another point for the Killer Jackrabbits! And we are on to the next round! Captains, select one person to keep forth! The other two must stay back for now, and the two who stayed out of this challenge will automatically join the person staying in! We want to change things up a little, you can only pick this time _before_ you know what the next challenge is!"

Bridgette continued anyway. "And so that I can see _what_ you're like."

"Why?"

In the background, Gwen called out "I pick Courtney!" with a smile. Ezekiel nodded in return, and made his way to the two Screaming Buffalo on the sidelines.

"Because... well... you've been known to be like a compulsive liar. Just yesterday you said you used to work for the RCMP before you tried to blow up a fugitive, and then they fired you and now you're wanted! I... I know you didn't do _that_. It seems impossible! Nobody who would try to blow up a person should go on an actual television program! I mean-"

Izzy giggled. "So. You really payed attention to that?"

"Well... yes! It sounded very concerning, so I-"

"No, no, you see, _nobody_ pays attention to my stories! Much less memorize them for a day! Only people in my family do that!" She put a hand to her chin, Ezekiel at this point was standing between them with a host-smirk. "Are you a long lost relative? Cousin? Sister? ..._Brother_?"

Bridgette glanced downward at the grass. "I hope not."

"Why?"

"Um, Bridgette," Ezekiel said, "We're still waiting for you to pick who gets to stay in, and which two contestants sit in the sidelines for the next challenge!"

"Oh! Um... Eva. Say, isn't that basketball game a little... excessive?"

"What do you mean?"

"It was pretty violent out there! I thought you didn't want your game to be like that... oh, what was his name..."

"Chris McClean? Naw, I'm not like him at all. Totally not eh." He closed his eyes and raised a hand in the air. "Zeksmit does not change the rules to let his own bias shine through. It's fair and balanced, the winner is up to the campers as a whole, and not up to me."

After moving out of that oath pose he continued. "Zeksmit also doesn't like his games too easy. This show isn't gonna be totally painless either."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: Hrm. And I thought this would be a nice, healthy, nonviolent competition. *Sighs.* Not that a few bruises will stop me from trying to get fifty K...

* * *

><p><strong>(Another Section of the Plains)<strong>

"Challenge two." Ezekiel said, holding six hockey sticks - three red, three green. "A little game of hockey. What you got to do is score as many points as possible before the puck melts."

"Melts?" Gwen asked.

"Yep. You see, a normal game of hockey is played with an ice field and a solid puck. Here, however, we will have a solid field and an ice puck!"

"That sounds like a _really_ bad idea." Gwen continued. "Did you even test it?"

Ezekiel frowned. "Actually, no. So, as decided by the captains, Eva will continue being active this challenge, as with Courtney. Gwen, Lindsay, Katie, and Sadie, you girls can take a rest before the final challenge. Leshawna, Beth, Bridgette, Izzy, you're in."

Courtney lightly bumped Gwen's arm. "Hey. Um. Just to be clear, you did pick me because of my flawless skills granted our team an instant win without the need for a final challenge, right?"

The goth rolled her eyes. "No, I picked you so that you can't screw up on the final challenge."

"Hey!" She cried. "When have I ever 'screwed up?'"

"You weren't more cautious in the maze, for one." She said, "You carelessly had Katie run right into you. If you were as skilled as you say _all the time_, that wouldn't happen, would it?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: *Bangs fist on palm.* That's it! Katie! If she hadn't ran into me, I would have had the respect I needed! And I could have even been a team captain! And... and maybe Gwen wouldn't get her immunity!

Gwen: Okay, to be honest Courtney's whole superiority complex really annoyed me three days ago, and it's annoying me now. If I can find _anything_ to damage her reputation, I have to use it as much as I can if I want to deal with her as little as possible.  
>Gwen: *Looks around* Also, what is <em>with<em> Ezekiel? Seriously? Hockey? Does this guy _want_ to make himself look like a walking stereotype? What's next, a maple syrup challenge?

* * *

><p><strong>(The Field)<strong>

Just prior to starting, Courtney and Eva had decided to take their place at the middle of the arena, glaring at eachother with their sticks firmly grasps.

They both turned to Katie shouting "Go, Eva!"

"I think she's _always_ antagonizing me." Courtney mumbled bitterly.

"Really?" Eva said, in a tone of interest rather than agressiveness.

Justin blew the whistle and the game started immediately, and as soon as the cheering began Gwen felt very out of place near her one teammate and two members of the opposing standing becides her will full enthusiasm. Lindsay seemed to notice this:

"Gwen, why aren't you happy for our team? Where's your spirit?"

"I would have more spirit if it wasn't for who's competing. Well, Leshawna's alright, but Courtney and Beth..."

"Wait! Why are you comparing Beth to Courtney?"

"Um... I- uh... I'm not! I just mean that while Courtney is bad all over, while Beth is..."

"I don't care! I thought you were a nice girl with a bad sense of fashion! Now I see that you're just really shallow and like insulting people!"

"Me? Shallow?" Gwen looked more stunned and confused than Lindsay.

"Yes! Urgh!"

The blonde huffed and stormed herself away from the four cheerleaders. Katie and Sadie looked at eachother, which Gwen noticed.

"You guys aren't really going to take her side, are you?"

They briefly focused their attention to the game; Izzy flipped the puck into the air with her stick and swung it so that the ice object - which had since lost three fourths of its mass - flew towards the goal net. Leshawna sidesteped into it and reflected it off with her stick, causing it to fly over towards Beth, who out of nervous reflex deflected it back towards the direction of the net. Eva and Bridgette cheered once Leshawna failed to deflect the second assault, Izzy spinning around the hockey stick in pride, while Courtney watched the scene with a smirk.

"Point for the Screaming Buffalo! That's eleven for them, just to the Killer Jackrabbits' six! And KJ, I think that's the match...?"

All of the contestants except Lindsay went to the direction of the Buffalo's goalpost and began searching around. After a few second of finding nothing but trails of water droplets, Ezekiel shrugged.

"Eh, I'll call it a match. Now, we're gonna have a half hour resting period before the last part of the challenge. These are... _pretty_ rare, so try not to waste them."

"We're taking a break?" Katie asked.

"Yeah. We have _loads_ of time before the day ends and one of you has to leave."

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Woods)<strong>

"Um, Lindsay are you _sure_ this is a good spot to hold our meeting?" Beth asked as she and her aformentioned friend trudged through the trick branches and bushes along the small forest.

Lindsay huffed as the punched through more of the wild vegetation before stopping and turning back. Beth took a few more steps foreward before stopping as well, and Lindsay spoke.

"Gwen hates you!" She said. The brunette gasped.

"No...!"

"Yes! She compared you to Courtney back there!"

"So uh... she's mean then?"

Lindsay dropped her serious look. "Um... I think? We should try to make an alliance against her!"

"But it's two against three. Everyone else likes Gwen..."

"Well." Courtney's voice was heard from behind several branches. "She's not one of my top two targets, but I think that if I- _we_... get her eliminated, it will help start cementing us as the top champions of the show."

Beth gasped. "You're right. Just think of how much power we'll have if we kick off a _team captain!_"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like Gwen or Bridgette did anything to _deserve_ that rank."

The two stared at her after she had emerged form the foilage.

"Say," Beth finally broke the silence. "How long have you been listening us?"

"I wasn't _listening_ to you, I was _following_ you. I want to say that I would be honored to be the third member of your group-"

She cut herself off when she saw Lindsay and Beth crossing their arms over their chests. "Nice try." Beth said. "Lindsay and I learned our lesson _last time_ that happened."

Lindsay nodded. "I don't forget things that happened three days ago! What, do you think I'm stupid?"

Courtney stuck her hands in front and quickly waved them. "No no no! I'm not asking for an alliance! I said _group_! All we have to do is vote for Gwen today, and we could be done! Becides, my two top priorities are on the other team - beating them is _totally impossible_. Even my boyfriend would think so!"

The continued giving her a look.

"Alright." Beth finally said. "But we're on to you. Try anything fishy and you're gone!"

Lindsay nodded. "Yeah, and based on my math if we kick off Gwen, then the two of us could vote you off after that and you can't do anything to stop us."

The two exchanged glances.

"Oh," Beth said, "Also, if you want this to keep going, then we do things evenly. None of us have any more power than eachother. In fact, we vote on stuff. If two of us agree on something but the third girl doesn't, then tough luck for the third girl!"

Courtney nodded, then turned at the sound of some rustling in the leaves.

"Izzy?" She blared. Seeing no further response from the foilage above, she turned back to the other campers. "I don't think it's safe here. We should leave. _Now_."

"But-" Beth said, "Our alli-"

"It's not that hard to remember! Quick little three to two vote, and that's it!" Courtney said before darting off into the vegetation. Once she left, Lindsay looked at Beth nervously.

"I don't even think _we_ should be seen next to eachother!" She cried, running away in another direction.

Beth was only alone for a few seconds before Sadie fell out of the trees. She got up with a smile.

"Sadie...?" Beth asked. "What are you doing here?"

She frowned for just a second before resuming a grin and scratching her upper back. "Birdwatching!"

"Uh..."

"I'm doing it with Izzy! Yeah..." She looked around. "You um... can't see her because she's out really far into the woods. It's easy to lose her. But don't worry about her, she knows her way around stuff like this! She'll be back really soon! Don't worry about me either, I know my way out too!"

"Okay..."

* * *

><p>Courtney had darted out of the forest, bent over and panted, and then turned back to the forest entrance with a smile.<p>

"Yeah, this game is _so_ mine."

She turned back to find Eva, arms crossed and smirking at her.

"Really?" She said. "That's good, because I was just about to ask about getting Bridgette or Katie kicked off of the game."

"Huh?"

"An interteam alliance."

"How will that even work without sabotaging the other team?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing like _that_. Ezekiel would catch on and put his foot down on that. This is more of a series of deals. My team has some people we both hate, your team has some losers I want gone like Gwen and Leshawna, I'll just convince them who to vote for and you convince my team."

"Why do you think I want Bridgette or Katie out of here?"

Courtney could swear Eva's grin increased, if only slightly. "Well, unless I misheard your countless rants over the past three days, Bridgette never 'deserved' that reward and Katie ruined your chances at getting it."

She paused in thought. Finally, the prep shook her head. "No deal, Eva. I don't want to work with somebody like _you_. Especially not a team-to-team alliance. You're a total creep. I doubt you can ever get anything done."

As Courtney walked off, Eva turned back and yelled. "Fine! But when Katie and Bridgette are out of here and you still have goth girl and egomaniac dragging on your legs, you'll be sorry!"

* * *

><p>"ATTENTION CAMPERS!" Ezekiel's voice rang from the speaker. "THE FINAL CHALLENGE WILL START IN TEN MINUTES! BY THE WAY, THIS IS THE FINAL TIME REMINDER!"<p>

Lindsay, who at this point was sure she was only getting even deeper into the woods, started hyperventilating. She began frantically tearing through any vines or brush in her way, yet instead of reaching the wide clearing that is the main prarie, she only found even thicker foilage than before.

"Oh come on! I know the camp is... east from here? Yeah, Izzy rambled that! All I have to do is follow the sun!"

Which she had been, up until just now. Where the forest became too dense to see the sky. At the sound of faint female laughter, she ducked to the ground with her hands over her head and started trying to crawl her way in where she thought was the direction that, which she also thought, led to the campsite. During this a tree branch had caught on her Total Zeksmit Swimsuit bottom and pulled it down to her knees. The laughter intensified, and from a direction both above and behind her. Lindsay gasped, bolted up, and turned to see a figure sitting in the trees.

The figure lept through the air and landing right in front of Lindsay, letting her get a good look on what startled her. And it continued to do just that. It was a young, tall woman around her age (maybe a little older), with near-albino looking skin and lengthy, messy dark red hair. Her large, bloodshot and dark red eyes were wide open, and matched a grin with highly sharp white teeth. She was dressed in a black suit with a red shirt and dark red tie underneath, and she was weilding a scythe. Annoyingly to Lindsay, her breasts looked bigger than her own.

"You shouldn't be here." This girl said, standing straight with her thin frame. "People die far too often in these woods."

"Hi... um... who... who are you?"

She held a long, slender arm out. "My name is Kathy. I am Ezekiel's concept designer for this game." She noted a confused look on Lindsay's face and briefly lost her indimidating stance to sigh. "In short, I come up with it and sketch how I want it to look, he, Justin, and some interns build it." Casting a glance to the side before continuing, "Mostly Justin and the interns."

"Oh. So do you know how to get out of here?"

"Of course I do! I practically live here! Or, around here. In fact, my 'house' during the game is why I can't let you go any further! Because then you will see what happens to the losers!" Her grin widened. "_And you will not like it_."

"Can you help me leave?"

"Easily, Cutebutt!"

"What?"

She gave an overly dramatic laugh. "I thought you had a cute butt, so I decided to call you that from now on!"

Lindsay looked down and realized she still hadn't pulled up the swimswuit bottom. After doing so, Kathy continued.

"Since you survived to this point, let me give you one important piece of advice: Beware of Homer."

"What?"

Kathy threw down a smoke bomb. For a brief period of time Lindsay's surroundings became covered in smoke. She coughed a few times, felt something on her stomach for a few seconds, and when the obstruction cleared she found herself back in the forest's entrance. Confused, Lindsay turned back to the woods.

"How did you do that?" She asked.

"You'll see eventually!" Her voice beamed from the forest, definitley not from as deep as they had been. "All answers will come by the endgame!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Lindsay: Was I dreaming...? Maybe I fell asleep in the forest. *Gasps.* But then! Does that mean I'm late for the challenge? Or maybe I'm just in time! *Bolts out of the confessional.*

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Plains)<strong>

Ezekiel sighed, looking at Justin's wristwatch. Behind him was a wide metal plain divided into eight squares in a 4x2 grid.

"Next time," he said, "I shouldn't be so generous in giving everyone so much time. We still have five minutes left before I can officially start the challenge."

"You can't start it early?" Gwen cut in.

"No, not with Lindsay still gone."

"Wait! Wait!" The voice of the blonde in question cried out, as she ran up to the group. Ezekiel slowly backed away from Justin and put on his usual host grin.

"Alright campers! Now for your last challenge in even groups of five! Except... well, because each camper is supposed to compete twice, it's more like even groups of four. First off, Eva and Courtney, for participating in the first two challenges, you get to stay out. Second, let me reveal what the rest of you will be doing:"

He pushed a button on a remote. Each square on the grid opened up to reveal a mat, each cardinal direction having an arrow pointing off the edge. Many of the campers had their jaws dropped.

"Is that..." Leshawna started.

"A dancing game tournament. Except, we're gonna do things a bit differently from what you might be familiar with. You see, I had said at the beginning of the show that your biggest enemies will be eachother. And while every past challenge so far had you trying to best eachother physically, the other two sports challenges, or mentally, the maze challenge on your first day, this will be the first time you will be doing both."

"Hey, no fair!" Lindsay cried. "I'm bad at doing things mentally and I'm not very good with physics!"

Ezekiel laughed. "Be thankful Chris isn't hosting! He'll show you what unfair _really_ means."

"What's the challenge?" Izzy cried out, jumping in place repeatedly. "It looks like fun!"

"The Killer Jackrabbits will stand on the platforms with the red arrows on them. Because the Screaming Buffalo won the last challenge, they get to pick where they stand afterward, so they get to choose their opponents while the campers on the other team have to hope that Izzy doesn't set sights to battle them. After this, and I'm warning this in advance, the platforms will rise up. Starting with the Buffallo - again, winner's advantage - and alternating, one team will have five seconds to set off a dance pattern where they press the buttons, and after that the other team will have to answer them. This switches teams. When the pattern creators become the Screaming Buffalo again, the time is increased to six seconds, and so on. However, the time each press is cannot be more than a quarter of a second apart. This is... really more because of technical limitations.

"If anyone fails to follow their opponent's steps, they're out and their platform will fall back to show this. The winner gets to stay up and relax for a little bit until/unless the team they're against has more or the same number of people standing than/as their team, after that they have to go in and challenge whoever's open. This keeps on going until one team has been completely eliminated, and that team must send someone down to the car of failure in the evening. Any questions? Good, now let's begin!"

The matchings where decided rather quickly. From west to east, it was Gwen against Izzy, Leshawna against Bridgette, Beth against Sadie, and Lindsay against Katie.

"Let's go!" Ezekiel shouted, pushing another button on the remote.

The platforms flew up and Lindsay was thrown off as soon as the movement finished. Ezekiel facepalmed and lowered the mat she was on. "Do over. That doesn't count."

Both the differences in the contestant's dancing skills as well as their sadism (whether in a friendly competition way or just plain ruthlessness) was evident from the dance match. Izzy had Gwen fretting around the mat like an idiot, darting her eyes over to where her opponent had been, deliberatley taking advantage of the quarter second delay to 'fake' moves. The goth managed to survive this, but only one round therof before her only counterattack was proven futile and early in the next wave her platform unexpectedly dropped down. Izzy laughed, getting the attention of the last three standing Jackrabbits. Lindsay in particular was biting her nails.

Because of that, she did not notice Katie's last three moves at the end of her team's round. When the test came around to her, even the soft glow of what arrow she had to hit and win was not enough of an indicator, and she knew she would flub those last few steps. She pulled her hair down, screamed, and fell along with her platform.

"Okay," Ezekiel said, "Leshawna, Beth, please redeem your team. That was _painfully_ one sided. Aside from Gwen's contribution. Seriously man, nice effort."

"You know," Courtney said, making her way to the spot where the eliminated contestants would watch the match, on the opposite side of where Courtney and Eva _were_. "If I was picked to participate-"

"Not in the mood." Gwen said. She turned to Lindsay, "You are gonna vote for her if we lose, right?"

Bridgette's platform fell.

"No- I mean, yes!" Ezekiel cheered. His self-correction called the attention of Gwen, Courtney, and Eva. "Leshawna, that was cool!"

"Well you see, I didn't even do anything big."

"Yeah," Bridgette said, having being knocked down from the force of the descent. "I'm just a really bad dancer."

The platform Gwen used to stand on rose again.

"Leshawna," Ezekiel said, "Since Izzy won her match first, you're gonna be the one who has to travel over to her area."

She did so, and waited the longest nine seconds of her life as her former platform dropped (no imput or button pressing was done during the period one person moved to another, it doesn't start again until the next wave), then another ten seconds when Izzy stood on her seemingly immobile directional pad, then about four seconds before Leshawna's current platform dropped too.

Beth took a deep breath in as she looked at the two challengers to her right and the one directly in front of her, the geek just starting her pattern when-

"Go Beth!" Courtney cried. "You're our last hope!"

She nodded, and jumped with split legs, hitting two arrows at the same time. Ezekiel gasped.

"Can she even do that?" Leshawna asked the host.

"Um... well... by design, yes. But that wasn't part of the plan!"

Sadie took on Beth's challenge with only slightly more struggle than she usually does. When the challenge rallied back to Beth, she did several jumps around her mat, always landing combinations of two arrows. Sadie managed to last until the very end of her copying round, but ultimately failed and had to drop down.

Beth sighed in relief when she found none of the platforms near Izzy on the opposite side have risen. Instead, for some reason, the pattern of stand-ins swaped as the person on the majority team had to be the one to travel next. Katie walked over to the panel facing Beth's and glared at her, to which she replied by stretching out her feet.

Yet aside from showing a weakness in the form of a sigh, and her general nervousness when Katie was combatting, she amped up her moves by also landing her arms out to hit a third arrow. Katie barely managed to get two right, by the third imput she panicked and hit the one button that _wasn't_ lit.

The Killer Jackrabbits cheered once Katie plummeted.

"THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Ezekiel shouted at what is possibly the loudest voice he used so far in the competition. "The Killer Grass are- wait, sorry, I got too excited and called them by their work-in-progress team name**(A)** - The Killer _Jackrabbits_ have made a one-person comeback! Izzy, you better get ready."

"Oh you bet I'm ready!" The bright green-glad camper said, staring down her sole remaining opposer.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: Actually, I was rooting for Beth to lose - not that I have anything against her, just wanted my team to be the one to vote someone off - but the better she does the more impressionable she looks. That won't help me too much now, but when the teams dissolve, I'm going to need to use that against the Screaming Buffalo. *Sighs happily.* The merge. Where I finally leave gothy and loudmouth behind, and get into the far more interesting lives of... well... the rest of my cabinmates.

Bridgette: *Looks around the floor, before looking at the camera.* I seriously thought Beth could die back there.

* * *

><p>Three mats rose up, forming a clear path from Beth's spot to the one across from Izzy. Beth took advantage of the extra space by breaking into a dash, then sliding across the way and stopping right in front of her sole competition. Piror to the showdown, all three of the now empty mats rose down in a formuletic pattern, one after another starting from Beth's starting point. The final match began with Izzy, once again hitting only one button at a time.<p>

"So." Beth said, donning a smug smirk. "You think you can take on the girl who made a two-for-one comeback?"

"Yeah, because you forgot two things!"

"What things?"

"One, I have a _looooot_ of past experience with limb stretching, and two, two can play at your game!"

At the absolute last split second that Izzy had to make the pattern for Beth, she lept in the air and landed with all four limbs each hitting a button. Beth herself kept up with the simple one-arrow portion, but towards the end she panicked, flipped in the air, and managed to only hit one out of the four arrows... with her head. Beth's platform fell.

"Winner!" Ezekiel cheered. "The Screaming Buffalo!" He frowned. "Um... Izzy... that kind of wasn't cool though... I think Beth might- oh who am I kidding, THAT WAS AWESOME!"

He got a few looks from Courtney, Lindsay, and Bridgette (the latter of whom was also raising an eyebrow at Izzy), but didn't notice.

"Jackrabbits, in a few hours we'll meet in the bleachers, where one of you can kiss this beautiful land goodbye."

Lindsay and Courtney ran over to Beth, who was rubbing her forehead. Courtney was the one to speak first:

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Beth replied, "Just wasn't expecting Izzy to be so wreckless."

"It's fine," Lindsay said, "We can convince the other team to vote her off! Right? That's part of our plan?"

Courtney thought about it, then nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Obviously you two would have to do it. You seem to be better at convincing people than me."

"What would I tell them though? Because Izzy's one of their better players."

Courtney shrugged. "I don't know... um... you know, find evidence to prove to them that Izzy has potential to... er... ruin their lives? Well, no, that sounds like Eva- I mean what Eva would do-"

Beth stood up and nodded. "Wow, thanks."

She then ran up and hugged Courtney.

"You're an ok friend, you know that?" She said before her and Lindsay ran off. Courtney stood in place.

"Wait. I'm your... friend?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Elimination Ceremony)<strong>

Confidence filled the air that night, with everybody in the immediate stage holding a smirk for one reason or another. Of the host, his marshmellow-carrying assistant standing off to the side, and, a rare sight to see, all five campers of the Killer Jackrabbits at once.

"Well well well," Ezekiel said, "I honestly didn't expect to see you guys here after seeing how Gwen organized you. I mean, Leshawna, Courtney, Gwen herself... even Beth! You people are all pretty good players, aren't you?"

Leshawna chuckled. "Normally I would be telling you to move on and let us vote, but" she looked over towards Gwen, who smiled back with a tumbs-up. "We can take our time."

"In fact," Gwen said, "We would want to remember this moment _as much as possible_."

"Okay then!" Ezekiel said with a quick laugh. "I put the remotes under your bleachers now. If you would, get them out and vote on whoever you want booted outta here, eh!"

Four rapid presses and Lindsay's vote later, and the familiar process of the podium printing out a slip of paper ensued.

Justin walked up to Ezekiel and he took the plate of marshmellows. The host was clearly holding back a laugh.

"Just to remind, when I call your name you get a marshmellow. Leshawna.

"Beth.

...

...

...

...

...

"You know, this suddenly just got really anticlimatic. I mean, there _were_ eleven of you here on the first day! Now that it's down to five and all... doesn't leave that big of a countdown to the final person eh. Like, this whole game suddenly feels really small..."

Leshawna leaned over to Gwen and whispered, "Don't get impatient. He's just savoring Courtney's defeat."

"Lindsay!" Ezekiel continued. "Now, the fourth and final marshmellow goes to...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Ezekiel laughed twice, before shouting out "Courtney!"

"What!" Gwen cried, standing straight up.

"Oh no, _aw no!_" Leshawna exclaimed. "_Please_ tell me you're just joking!"

"I don't joke about plot twists like this, that's a lame way to finish the episode! The votes are right there, Courtney lost three to two!"

Leshawna raised a brow. "Three to two...?"

She glared at Lindsay and Beth.

"What?" The former said.

"Gwen," Ezekiel continued, "Pack your things and get ready to leave."

The goth slumped with a frown, turned to Lindsay and Beth (the two in question gaining Gwen's dissapointed expression too), and began walking away.

"Wait!" Beth cried. Everyone present turned to her.

"What?" Gwen asked.

"If it makes you feel any better... I _had_ to vote for _somebody_ and..."

Gwen sighed. "Don't even bother."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: Yes yes yes! One down, one to go! *Starts leaning back.* I knew I could trust my new friends. *Shoots back foreward, looking dead at the camera.* Friends? I never thought they... well it will help me if I... oh what the heck, why not? I'm used to smarter friends, but on my team Lindsay and Beth are my best choices.

Lindsay: Looking back, I don't see what was so wrong with Courtney in the first place.

Beth: All this emotional conflict makes me wonder how the Screaming Buffalo are doing. Hrm.

Leshawna: *Jaw dropped.* ...I _**still**_ think Ezekiel is joking. At least I hope. 'Cuz if not, well, I'm down to a one woman army. *Rolls eyes.* Surrounded by idiots.

Gwen: *Looks around.* So this is going to be my last confession here. *Suddenly glares at the camera.* Izzy, Bridgette, Leshawna. Let this be a message to _never_ cross paths with a CIT unless you know what you're doing. They catch you off guard, and then you're getting exiled off to some far away camp where you have to live with a bratty queen bee, and possibly a bunch of creepy underpaid workers. Let my loss make this lesson. And let that be a lesson to all.  
>Gwen: *Deep breath.* Well, on the bright side, I won't have to deal with the people here anymore. Like Justin. I don't know what's up with him, but there is something up. He creeps me out. Maybe it's the eyes...<p>

* * *

><p>As the headlights of the black car turned on indicating the series's second drive into darkness, the blurry outline of a figure was illuminated behind the signs. The car took off, with Gwen's voice shouting "I'll make sure to 'say hi' to Heather for all of you!" trailing along with the car's lights, further revealing the figure to be Eva.<p>

She watched as the vehicle carrying the tenth place camper dissapeared into a black dot in the midnight green woods.

"Well call me shocked..." She muttered with another smile.

Eva looked from the side of the sign to see Ezekiel giving the sign off:

"Two gloomy brunettes down and nine campers total remain! With a captain being kicked off right after being established as one, it's really anyone's game! Who's going to win this? Find out not next time, but in nine more episodes! Right here, on Total! Zeksmit! Plains!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Audition - Gwen)<strong>

The camera clicked on to show the goth dressed in a large midnight blue cloak, standing in a yard. She sighed.

"Okay, before you get any ideas, I'm _only_ doing this because I lost a bet with my brother. And... it was the kind of bet I was _sure_ I would win."

After an inactive pause, she threw the cloak off, revealing to be dressed only in a purple bra and a bright pink skirt. The skirt fell down right away, exposing panties that matched her current top. She picked it back up and held it in place with one hand, using the other to fetch a pom-pom. Still keeping her skirt up, she pressed a button on a stereo, which caused it to play a simple upbeat pop tune. Gwen began jumping with the music, _still_ keeping her hand on her skirt.

"_The Zeksmut! Zeksmut! He's our man! Can run a show like nobody can! Awesome to win that special extra quest! He showed all those classmates that he's the best! So please oh please even if I lacked sight of your feat, watch this audition and pick me me me!_"

At the last word she jumped foreward with both her hands out, again causing the skirt to fall. It reached her knees, causing her to trip mid-air and knock into whatever was holding the camera up, making it knock over and lean down to the grass below. Shortly after that Gwen was seen falling stomach-first on the floor, showing a pink skull on the back of her underwear. The skirt fell on her head shortly after, apparantly slipping out of her feet in the air.

She looked up at the camera and grimanced. "Ezekiel, what you just saw was the reason why I will never make bets about fat guys not finding love."

Suddenly Gwen blinked, dazzed. "Wait... did you say your name was Zek_smut_? Or... please tell me I either misheard or didn't care about your show..."

She swiped the recording device and pressed a pale finger against one of the buttons, causing the tape to cut to static.

* * *

><p><strong>Votes:<strong>

Beth: Gwen

Courtney: Gwen

Gwen: Courtney

Leshawna: Courtney

Lindsay: Gwen

**Total:**

Courtney - 2

Gwen - 3

* * *

><p><strong>Teams:<strong>

**Screaming Buffalo:** Bridgette (Captain), Eva, Izzy, Katie, Sadie

**Killer Jackrabbits:** Beth, Courtney, Leshawna, Lindsay

**Eliminated:** Heather, Gwen

* * *

><p><strong>Footnotes:<strong>

**A:** Yep. This was the name the team got in the older version of this story. The Screaming Buffalo were called the Screaming Hills. I changed it, both because I prefer the animal theme for this wildnerness-themed (sort of) competition, and because... as an accidentaly innouendo, Grass and Hills might sound like slang terms for pubic hair and breasts, especially since this is an all-female competition. I just searched random prairie animals to find names that would be appropriate for a season out in the far country for the teams in this new version.

**Closing AN:**

Well, this chapter was a complete pain to write. As someone who was never really into sports, it was kind of difficult to make this interesting, and I tried to spend as little as possible with writing the actual first two challenges so that they didn't become "Here's what they have to do, followed by a lengthy, developmentless description of the challenge."

Actually though I really did like writing the last part of the challenge. Something about that atmosphere involving most of the remaining campers, and the buildup to Beth and Izzy's showdown. It actually kind of makes me think about my ideas for this fic series's future... particularly seasons two onward.

Next up: **Blast to and From the Past**. The final nine compete in three cavewoman challenges, testing their endurance and wits as they "modern up" along the line! Yet another contestant is at stake, except this time the person getting voted off _wasn't_ revealed in the old vesion!


	3. Blast to and From the Past

**Total Zeksmit Plains**

**Chapter 3: Blast to and From the Past**

**Beginning AN:**

Apologies for the crappy last chapter. Here's hoping that this isn't so sucky.

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo Cabin)<strong>

"WHICH ONE OF YOU STOLE MY CLOTHES?"

Eva's yell preceeded another throw, this time of an empty suitcase that slid from the spot by her bed over to just under Izzy's bunk. Due to the sleeping arrangements, Bridgette's bed was underneath that of Eva's target, and the sole blonde of the team quickly got her feet off of dangling from the edge of the bed to the main part itself to avoid getting it.

"IZZY! I _KNOW_ YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID IT! CONFESS LIKE A REAL PLAYER AND COUGH IT UP!"

"Hey, Eva." Sadie said, cowering from her top bunk with Katie doing the same below her. "Katie and I can't find our clothes either."

Eva went to them, then stretched her head over in their direction, stopping the rest of her body at some point as though she couldn't go further. "Then that means that Izzy did this to ALL of us!"

"Easy, Eva." Bridgette said. "I'm sure there's another explanation-"

"Oh really? Wait, where did your clothes go?"

Bridgette looked under her own bunk. The luggage she checked in was empty.

"Um..."

"Nothing." Eva said, "NOTHING AT ALL."

"Hey!" Izzy shouted. "My clothes are missing too!"

Eva rolled her eyes. "Of course you would hide your own clothes, because you're both a naturist freak AND you would want to try to mask the truth! Well let me tell you something," She lowered her voice, "_I don't like masked __**wrestlers**_. I prefer the fighters who have the guts to show their lying faces!"

Izzy then lept out of her bed and did a mid-air flip over Eva. When she landed, the two campers engaged in a staredown, something not gone by unseen by any of the other three teammates.

This lasted for a few seconds before Bridgette got out of bed and jumped between the two, holding her arms out.

"Girls, girls!" She shouted. "It's only been a week! We're still a strong, full team of five, fighting is something _below_ us!"

Eva backed down, then shot a less threatening glare at Izzy. "Well, I _guess_ you pulling a reverse-comeback on Beth was pretty cool." She sheepishly smiled.

Izzy's sour expression did not change. "Yeah, you should be thanking me, traitor. If we lost, who else would we vote off?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Who else? Well, next time we lose, you're about to find out...

*cue intro*

* * *

><p><strong>(Outside)<strong>

Things had settled down enough for Eva and Izzy to both leave the cabin, albeit at a state where neither of them were directly talking to the other. Bridgette followed, carrying the same stern expression the first two campers had, then Katie and Sadie peeked their heads out of the cabin door, both frowning in concern.

"We should like, help them get along." Sadie finally said.

Katie gasped. "You think that's actually possible?"

"Well... yeah! I think? I mean Bridgette's nice and Izzy... can be nice, and I think Eva _could_ be nice if the other two act nice to her and..." she trailed off.

The other cabin swung open. Leshawna trotted out, mildly annoyed, with Courtney following her.

"...And that's why I accuse you of stealing my casual clothes! Again, you're just insecure that you're the only camper left on the team who's not a part of this alliance."

"Hey!" Eva called to the two Jackrabbits. "You can't find your clothes either? Maybe Izzy's more into this than I thought..."

"People can learn a lot about you guys based on who you blame for this alone." Ezekiel's voice rang from the direction of the loudspeaker. The seven campers present looked that way to see him standing by a table, with short stacks of technicolor leaves piled on. "Justin did a good job at that, and I must say the results are _way_ more interesting than I thought." Lindsay and Beth finally stepped out of the cabin, as with the other campers they were still in their sleepwear.

"Boy, what now?" Leshawna asked as she neared the table.

Ezekiel snickered. "In the last two challenges I had you compete in bikinis. Well, today we're doing things a bit differently. Campers, gather around this table and find the leaves of your color. _That's your outfit for the first part of our cavewomen challenge_."

The heads of all nine remaining campers shot straight up.

"C...Cavewoman challenge?" Lindsay repeated.

Ezekiel nodded. "Yep. Instead of changing into the Zeksmit Swimsuits, please find the leaves of your color and change into them, then meet me by the entrance to the woods exactly due west from this part of the campsite. Your first challenge will begin pretty soon today, so hurry up!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Going by the name, this sounds like my kind of challenge. Hrm... then again, going by what he thought was 'sports...'

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Woods Entrance)<strong>

Ezekiel scanned the line of campers facing him, all waiting. Finally he called, "What, is Lindsay gonna be late every episode now?"

Courtney stepped to Ezekiel and looked at his watch. "Technically she isn't late if it's not nine."

"That's what I mean," he said, "Before she made it just when the challenge is supposed to start. But, you know, you're not supposed to _be_ here on the time sharp, you're supposed to be here a little earlier."

The aformentioned blonde ran up completely nude, her orange leaves being instead held in her hands.

"Ezekiel! Ezekiel!" She cried, "There aren't enough leaves for me! I can't cover my front and my rear!"

Ezekiel laughed, "Oh man, you're not _supposed_ to cover your butts with them you know!"

Lindsay held them out and looked at them cluelessly. "Aw man, that really isn't fair. What about the girls with smaller boobs?"

"Same thing, except they get smaller _leaves_."

Courtney groaned. "Can you get on with the challenge already? Both of you? I want to be the only girl my boyfriend oggles here, and thanks to Ezekiel's backless 'fashion' and Lindsay's stalling, I don't think that's true anymore."

The host then got out two apples, one red and one green. Surrounding the green one was a circle of rope which in itself branched off into five ropes. The same applied for the red one, except one of the branches is cut paricularly close to the base.

"This challenge will be something a little different. Like last time, there's three of them. But _unlike_ last time, we're doing it relay style. Each member of the team corresponding to the apple's color has to grab onto a rope-"

"Wait," Lindsay said, hand raised and still naked, "Which team was I again?"

"The red one."

"Oh... hey, why do we get less ropes?"

"Because there's less people on your team!" He laughed. "Anyway, yeah, Lindsay brought up a point: You need to climb the tree while using the ropes to drag the apple up. You may not touch the apple itself, or else you'll have to start all over. To keep one or two people from doing _all_ the work, all teammates must hold on to a rope at all times. To bring up Lindsay's point, yes the Jackrabbits get an advantage because they have one less person to worry about, but since they lost three days ago it kinda balances it out. Kinda, eh."

"What happens if the apple slips out?" Bridgette asked.

"Excellent question." Ezekiel said, pointing at the camper. "Then... well... the team automatically wins the whole game and splits the fifty grand, because the chances of that happening are near impossible!" He laughed. "Seriously, those are real apples but I superglued them to the ropes. You'd have to be _trying_ to remove them!

"Anyway, you will have to climb until you reach Justin over there. I don't want to waste your time too much and skip right to the action, so he'll explain what the second challenge is. There will be no point added upon climbing to the top nor will there be an advantage for the next one. Instead, because we're doing this relay style, all the winning team gets is the ability to move on while the losing team can't until they reach the goal as well. Now, are you ready?"

The campers nodded, just as Lindsay finally put on the leaves.

"Then let's go!" The host cheered.

"Ooh ooh, wait!" Izzy cried. "Does our team captain get any kind of advantage or lead for this challenge?"

Ezekiel laughed. "Sorry, but no. For once they will be kind of 'equals' with the rest of the team, I guess. But thanks for reminding me that Bridgette and Gw-"

He paused, looking down at the grass in concentration. "Oh!" he snapped his head back up. "You reminded me of something else! Yeah, Killer Jackrabbits, now that your team captain is gone you have to vote for a new one! And yeah, you _can_ vote for yourselves, just don't overdo it... please?"

"Courtney!" Lindsay and Beth both cheered at nearly the same time. Courtney herself nodded,

"I nominate myself."

Leshawna sighed. "Why should I even bother... uh, I'm pickin' myself I guess."

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"Captain Bridgette." Izzy said, brushing a few leaves and branch tips away.

"What?"

"We have some problems."

"Problems?"

"Yeah. We're behind."

The two, along with Eva, were only about a fourth of the way up the tree (which seemed taller than it looked from the ground), their ropes being pulled at near-straight lines which went down to the apple in a group of three, before splitting out in a group of two that led to Katie and Sadie, talking to eachother from near the bottom of the plant and barely having their hands and feet gripped into the bark.

"Shoot! I... don't have any ideas. Do you?"

"No," Eva answered in her place, "But _I_ do." She looked down at the duo, "HEY YOU TWO! MOVE IT UP, GO GO GO!"

Katie and Sadie continued looking at eachother, albeit worriedly, yet they scurried upwards at a much faster pace. At about the point where they reached the location of the apple before Eva's outburst, Bridgette glared at the loud contestant.

"Wow, was that even necessary?"

"You bet." She shot back in response.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Remember when I said I needed muscle? Izzy is too unreliable, and Bridgette is too soft. I'm pretty sure Leshawna... hates me, and the other three Jackrabbits are out of the question! That leaves Katie and Sadie. Katie... seems more athletic, but I'm sure there's a way to turn Sadie's fat into muscle. It would just be easier to have them both following me, but at the rate they get stuff done when they're talking to eachother, I have to pick one of them and leave the other to rot.  
>Eva: *Bangs fist on palm.* And that's exactly what I'm going to do. Split them first, then test them. Find out which one cracks later...<p>

Izzy: *Frowning.* Bridgette, I like you, but why did you have to throw a freak like Eva on our team?

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

Courtney turned to sit on one of the increasing numbers of thicker branches. Scanning below to see the Buffalo struggling to catch up (though the higher three - still Bridgette, Izzy, and Eva - were at least within earshot), and having Beth and Lindsay climb up to join her sides, Courtney put her hands behind her head and sighed. "My team is ahead by a load, I'm making two new friends that garuntee us all free from elimination until Leshawna is out, and my biggest enemy has been gone for three days. Life is _sweet_."

"I don't know," Lindsay added, "The air here tastes salty to me."

Leshawna climbed up to the team as well, rounding them off. Courtney waved at her, in spite of the other two teammates both being seated between them.

"Hey, now that I know I'm not going to lose thanks to my loyal friends, why don't we put the troubles that happened back in that stupid maze aside?"

"Um yeah..." She stood on the branch and glared down at her. Courtney's expression did not change. "No way."

"Then I'd like to remind you that you are at risk today." Courtney got up, her allies/friends following in suite as though they were trying to impersonate her. "And to do your best."

As she jumped up back to the main log, Leshawna's grip tightened. "Really? You think I wasn't doing that before?"

"Well okay, let me rephrase that." She dug another foot into what she deemed a stable foothold. After finding that it kept her place, she continued with another foot, repeated this pattern. "I'll make a deal. You follow our plan and we might not vote you off, even if we still lose."

Lindsay and Beth gasped. "Does that mean..." the latter spoke up, "That you're going to kick _us_ off?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: *In a gray leopard-skin two piece outfit.* Well, obviously that _was_ the plan, but if I said it then the alliance would be off and I would be face-down at rock bottom again. *Deep breath.* And personally, I hate being there. I- uh... never hit _rock_ bottom in my earlier years in high school, and that's because the people _there_ know who to respect. These campers, however, are idiots. Which is bad, because I am at a bigger risk of getting sent away early, but at the same time it's good, because idiots tend to believe anything. Especially if it's something drastic, like...

* * *

><p>"No, I'll tell Lindsay and Beth to vote me off instead!"<p>

All three of her teammates gasped. After noticing Izzy feebily trying to claw at the branch they were seated on, they decided without much need for thought to follow Courtney in terminating their break.

"But that will never happen," Courtney continued calmly, "Because if you follow what I say, we'll win!"

Leshawna made what could best be described as a cross between a sigh and a chuckle. "Girl, you're mean, but you're interesting. I'm gonna regret saying this, but I kinda like you. It's a deal, but don't be surprised when we lose, 'cuz you're just throwin' away the fifty grand now."

"And now that I got to look at you from the top of the team's social list instead of the bottom for three days, I kind of like you too."

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"Aw, shoot!" Izzy cried.

Bridgette hit her head on a small branch before turning it to her teammate's direction. "What?"

"The other team is making it up! Come on, can't Eva and us just pull Katie and Sadie up here?"

"Three things wrong with that. It would put more tension on the rope and make it more likely to break, it would really hurt them, and right now Eva's down there with them."

The redhead's gaze shot downward. "WHAT?"

"Yeah, she's talking things out to them-"

She cut herself off when Izzy dropped down to the level of the other three Screaming Buffalo, leaving her alone. Bridgette glanced up.

"I don't know what you're doing..." she said to herself, seeing Courtney's fingers barely touching the branch Justin was (sleeping) on after a time of stretching her arm out as far as possible. "But please make it quick..."

Izzy fell until she was level with the trio at the bottom, placing her feet against the side of the tree to keep herself held. To further her balance, both of her hands were gripping the rope.

"Hey guys..." She said, obviously trying to sound friendly even though her comment was made out of clear spite. "Katie. Sadie. ...Eva."

"Go away." The last one Izzy had named said.

"Fine, but only if you tell me just what you're doing down here."

Eva coninued to grimance at her, a look to which Izzy shot right back. She paused before answering. "Training excercise. I help these two split up as much as they can while on the game, and it ends up paying big for us." She pointed upward. "Look."

Katie and Sadie, as far apart as the rope allowed them to be to the point where they were at near-opposite ends, were clawing up the tree stump. Their pace was quicker than before, but still nothing to brag about. Izzy looked down at Eva to see her smirking. However, the wilder girl herself did not change her expression.

"You know what they say, 'divide and conquer.' In this case, I used the phrase a little differently. They divide, and yet they conquer too. The saying works on any level."

"And- and... you're not tearing their friendship apart or anything?"

Eva leaped about a foot above where she was at before, then immediately clung to the tree's side once again. "No, no, no. Sometimes friends have to be away from eachother, and all I'm doing is teaching them that fact."

"Really..."

"Yes."

"Is that all?"

"_Yes_. You got a problem with that?"

Izzy did not answer, instead she chose to run back up the tree over to Bridgette.

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

"Come on Lindsay!" Leshawna cheered, "You can do it girl!"

The airhead was currently the would-be last to get to the branch that the still sleeping Justin was on. Beth, the one closest to the co-host, began lightly nudging him. He showed no response and kept snoring.

"Lindsay," Courtney added, "You should probably hurry up. After all, the faster we beat this, the more time we have for the next two challenges."

By the time Courtney finished saying that statement, both of her hands were on the branch (holding the rope between her feet) and she was struggling to pull herself up. Finally, she managed to swing her legs around the branch, hook the tips of her feet to the part (holding the rope in her hands again), and flip herself over so that she was holding on by the tops of her toes before swinging again so that she landed perfectly on the tree.

"How did she do that?" Lindsay asked to no one in particular.

"Practace, but I don't have time for details." Courtney said before running over to Justin and shaking him more violently than Beth did earlier.

Not too long later, Justin snapped awake and in a daze.

"Oh... Oh! Campers, toss me the apple." They did as instruction by swinging their parts of the rope back and forth, letting go when the apple swayed in his direction. "Alright, alright-"

He noticed where he was and swayed before collecting himself. "Th-the challenge! Heh heh, I almost forgot... yes, you four have to jump down to the matress, find a way to light a fire, then swing on a vine across that pond over there," he pointed towards a spot further in the forest. Leaves blocked most of the view, however deep green water was visible between the gaps. "And light these cardboard stand things up using that fire. I'm sure Ezekiel will be there to tell you the last part."

He rubbed his eyes as the contestants jumped off of their branch and all landed squarely on the bed portion. Ezekiel was quick to run up to them, hands behind his back.

"Justin forgot something, _as usual_." The host said. "He didn't mention that you get to upgrade your outfit, eh!"

He stuck his arms out, revealing each of them to have two sets of loincloth pairs. Giving little surprise to the contestants, they were colored specifically as well, one pair gray, another jade, a third pale yellow, and a forth orange.

"Um, Ezekiel..." Lindsay began, "Those are like skirts, right?"

"Yes."

"Then can we wear the leaves under them?"

"No."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Leshawna: Well, at least it covers our behinds... half the time, anyway. Speaking of covered behinds, that's one luxury I don't get! When I found out about the voting ceremonies, I thought this would be some top-notch, impossible competitive game show... then I met those nutjobs Courtney and Eva before the drive up to this place. And I met some nice people who got along with me, you know Bridgette, Gwen... I used to think Lindsay. I thought, 'I got this, this is gonna be easy,' and it was for the first six days. Easy and laid back. But now that I'm like the only camper with a clear shot at getting voted off...  
>Leshawna: I suddenly have to give a hundred and ten percent for the sake of my team. I'm not sayin' that I can't! But still, a lot of sudden stress on someone. Maybe there's another way to it...<br>*Knocking is heard on the door.*  
>Courtney (from outside): Leshawna, hurry up! We found a way to light the fire!<p>

Izzy: *Also wearing the leopard loincloth and top. Her head is rested on her hands.* ...I blew it.

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"Shoot!" Bridgette cried. "The other team won! Izzy, did you hear Justin say what the challenge is?"

"No," The redhead was beginning to catch up to her, "Because I was too busy listening in on what Eva's scheming!"

Clearly confused, she asked "Scheming?"

Izzy nodded. "Eva says she wants Katie and Sadie split up a little more so that they'll do better, but I know better than that. She wants to split them up so she can lie and cheat to them!"

"And why do you think that?"

"Well... um... look at the evidence?"

"What evidence?"

"Remember, in the beginning, Eva was threatening the interns-"

"_That was __**your**__ idea_, Izzy."

"But- not like that! I only wanted to play around with the interns! You know, fool them, prank them..."

While Bridgette continued eye contact, she began speeding up her climbing. Izzy continued, her tone telling that she did in fact notice Bridgette's reaction to what she said before. "No no, wait! In the sports challenge, she was directing orders at Katie and Sadie and-"

"That's just her personality, Izzy. I really don't like her either, but if we try to approach her directly- well, if _I_ try to approach her directly..."

"You don't get it? She's aggressive and she's coming up with a plan! Do you think _we_ will benefit from that at all?"

Bridgette looked down and saw Lindsay, Beth, and Courtney gathered around a pile of wood. Courtney looked up at the Screaming Buffalo and waved at them with one of the most smug expressions either of them have seen in their lives.

"We might. After all, Eva sounds like she wants an advantage over the other team."

"No, she wants an advantage _for herself_. And who's her closest enemies? Us! We're the ones who have the power to vote her off after all! And she can vote off us! ...And... stuff. And if she catches on to that, she'll use us as pawns- and- and- see, she doesn't care about us, she just wants the win!"

"So... you're upset because Eva is being competitive on a competitive game show? Her training doesn't seem to be harming Katie and Sadie at all. She's just making suggestions."

Izzy paused, looking for a retort. She found none and simply pouted.

"Well fine then, excuse me for being self-defensive. See if I care when she targets you next. You might even be her first choice..."

Bridgette laughed, looking down at Katie and Sadie to find that they were now starting to catch up, still on nearly completely opposite sides of the tree from eachother with Bridgette and Izzy's placing in the middle. "I don't think I'm her first choice."

"And what does that mean?"

Bridgette's response to that question caught Izzy off guard. The skyblue leaf-clad surfer girl froze, her eyes wide and her mouth trembling at figuring out what motions to make first.

"I wasn't talking about you!" She croaked in a raised octave.

Izzy took one arm off the tree and put it to her side, her other hand palming the rope against the giant plant. "Then who _were_ you talking about?"

By this point, Sadie had finally reached the point where she was within a few feet from Bridgette. She added with sympathetic eyes, "Yeah... who else do you think Eva wants gone? ...Me?"

"N-no not you either!"

Sadie's expression darkened. "Then you must think that Eva thinks that Katie is worthless then! Well let me tell you something, Eva _clearly_ knows that Katie is **not** worthless, so that only means _you_ think she _is_. Meanie!"

"But- I- it's not Katie either!"

"Than who is it? You said it wasn't yourself, and you said it wasn't us, and you said it wasn't Izzy. Do you think Eva wants herself voted off?"

"Well... fine, I meant Izzy all along! But I didn't mean that to hurt her! I just think that out of all of us, Izzy would be Eva's target because... well, Izzy hates her! In fact, I'm going to confess that I think Eva is a nutjob, so saying that Izzy's doing a good job at making enemies with her is a _good_ thing! It was a compliment, but it sounded like an insult so I tried not to-!"

Izzy laughed. "Nice try, Bridgette. See you at the top!"

She leaped up across the smaller branches, until she stayed on one at the point where her rope was stretched as far as it could without the risk of breaking.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: *Still looking down with head on hands.* ...Yep. Blew it.

Bridgette: *Sighs, leaning back against one of the walls.* But I said it was a compliment... and I meant it. *Gives a look off to the door.* At first.

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

With a sudden pull, the string set one of the sticks in a rapid spinning motion over the pile of kindling. Smoke began forming by where the end of the stick was, followed by a few small sparks which caught onto the dried wood and set it just so lightly ablaze.

"Wow Beth!" Lindsay cried, as Courtney darted off into the direction of the confessional. "You really do know how to start a fire!"

She rolled her eyes. "_See_ Courtney, I-

"Lindsay, where did she go?"

"Oh yeah, Leshawna's gone too."

"Well she said that she wanted to use the confessional."

Izzy startled the two by slamming the matress feet first in an attacking stance mimicking an angry dog. Her team followed, all of them missing the matress and all falling on the grass face first. Ezekiel ran up to the groups.

"Hey, just want to let you know that crossing the pond with the vine isn't required for everybody, but the fire _must_ cross over via vine and the third and final challenge starts on the other side of it and that vine acts as a shortcut, so..." His gaze moved to one particular fallen Buffalo. "Bridgette? Bridgette!"

Ezekiel sprinted towards her, Izzy dashing off in the same direction Courtney went with a mad cackle and happily holding up the parts to her new outfit (swiped right out of Ezekiel's hands while he was running). "Bridgette, are you okay?"

She took several seconds to push herself up, reject Ezekiel's offered hand, and dust off. After this, she said, "I'm fine. Why don't you see if Katie and Sadie are okay too-"

"They are." Eva called, the injured blonde camper and the host both turning to her and finding her standing straight up with Katie and Sadie. All four of the Jackrabbit members who faceplanted bore bruises and bumps on their heads, to which Katie and Sadie were currently rubbing. In spite of this, the pair in question nodded.

"Alright then," Ezekiel continued, "Get dressed!"

Eva turned behind her to see Lindsay carrying five torch-sized sticks and setting them down close by the fire, of which Beth was lightly blowing on. Courtney and Leshawna ran over to the team and smiled.

"Can't we do the challenge in the leaves?" Eva said, enlicting surprise from her other present teammates.

"Nope, that would give you an unfair speed or time advantage. Sort of, eh, since the other team was told they had to change."

She grumbled, walking over to the small tempoarary building acting as a changing area while the remaining four Buffalo followed. Ezekiel then darted over to the opposing team and leaned in.

"Hey, since the other team is gone, I have to ask... how did you dry up the wood? The forest here is kind of wet like 24/7."

He began poking the very edge of the base of the fire while Lindsay lit up one of her five makeshift torches. Surprised as how fast the stick caught on fire, she gasped and handed it to Leshawna.

While Leshawna fumbled around the vine to find a good way to ensure it won't break or her hand wouldn't slip off, Beth grinned. "All I did was dry them using the leaves in all of our outfits."

Ezekiel's hand jolted back until it was bent behind him, and sprung up on his feet as though his hand was pulling him in its direction. He then stared at the fire like it was going to explode.

"You mean the same leaves that were touching your naked selves?"

"We weren't naked when he had the leaves on," Lindsay added, "Because we were in the leaves."

"That's!" He paused. "Cool. A little gross, but cool."

"Alright girls!" Leshawna cried from a slight distance. She had the end of the vine wrapped around her foot in a loop. "I'll take one of you on a ride, but I can only carry one. Can each of you tell me how fast you can run?" She looked down at the foot with the vine around it. "The vine around my foot is so I can keep this held down better, I think it's cool."

Beth and Lindsay smiled at eachother.

"You go!" The brunette one said.

Lindsay laughed back, "No, you go!"

Footsteps were heard in the background, "No, you go!"

Lindsay turned to the source of the footsteps and saw the Screaming Buffalo finishing their return. Eva had her arms crossed over her chest, smiling. "Say," she said, "Izzy and I talked right before we jumped off that tree. Did you know she could start a huge fire in an instant?"

Lindsay turned back to Beth and looked dead at her with wide eyes. "Okay, I'll go."

Leshawna cleared her throat. "But wait." She said, carrying less tone than she usually does. "What about Courtney?"

"I have a plan of my own. Don't worry."

Lindsay ran to Leshawna and got herself tucked under one arm while the other proudly lifted the torch up in the air. Izzy returned just to see Leshawna kicking off a tree with the vine, and Beth taking off and running along the edge of the pond, and Courtney diving right into the water chosing to swim straight to the goal.

"Woo hoo!" Lindsay cried, pumping an arm into the same dense, warm air that she and Leshawna tore through on the plant. The latter's feet skimmed across the surface of the pond, lightly bumping against several tree roots sticking out.

"Oh my." Lindsay commented towards the submerged tree parts, noticing them through the bumps she felt along with her teammate. "You don't think Courtney's going to hit them while she's swimming, do you?"

"Meh, I'm not worried about her, and you really shouldn't be either."

The pair began moving upward, signaling the end of their flight, so Leshawna decided to stick out her legs and once she felt the vine stop moving, she leaped off with a strong flip placing the two square on the grass again. If this grass was a bit damp, that is.

Searching found a pair of two identical cardboard cut-outs of weird looking creatures. They bore tan frog-like faces with large eyes sitting atop on stalks, and red backs with white spots. A pair of legs stuck out from the bottom of both of them, the feet having three toes and the entire legs and feet holding a slight avian look.

"What?" Lindsay said at the creatures.

Leshawna rolled her eyes, "Girl, nevermind what Ezekiel does." She torched the standee on the right. "Now come on, we gotta challenge to win."

Out from the wild sprang a large, brown horse, with Ezekiel as its rider.

"No way!" Lindsay cried, "You have a horse?"

"Yeah, yo. It's a rental, it would be used by you for one of the challenges but uh... the idea was scrapped and now... I got a fast way around the forest man! You see, this show was supposed to be longer and have these episodes with reward-"**(A)**

"Cut the details," Leshawna broke in, "We're on a time limit here, what do we do next?"

"Well, if you look behind you-"

"Won't that burning standee catch the forest on fire?" Lindsay inturrupted.

"Not if it's this damp. And just in case... eh, we got that covered." He put a hand to his chest. "I won't let anything bad happen to this prairie. Trust me. Anyway, if you look behind you to your right you will find a treasure chest containing your outfits for the final challenge. Put those on, you can use the little oriental room divider over there if you want, and head over to that little pile of rubble to the left. You girls must turn that pile into a little cart or something, and race out of the forest, across the plains, and to the cabins, where Justin should have painted a finish line. All team members must be touching at least one part of the cart at all times, keep in mind that this includes something like grabbing a rope to pull it. In case this gets really close... hrm, let's just say that after the first person of a team crosses the line is when the challenge is over."

Courtney leaped out of the lake, brushing a few leeches off of her person and swatting at a piranha that jumped out of the pond and tried to bite her. She looked at the burning stand.

"Okay. What?"

"I'll explain." Leshawna said, "Boy you can save your breath."

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

The mass of sap, twigs, and other assorted Zekitunakwa-native vegetation made contact with the small flickers started from Eva's stone-banging, which set off a roaring column of fire stretching above the peak of the woods. It did settle considerably, however at its final height it was still as tall as Izzy herself and twice as wide as Sadie, the flames resting on a colossal bed of kindling that barely seemed to be large enough to contain it.

"So." Eva stated flatly. "That made up for the time it took to build that fireplace."

"Guys," Katie said, swatting at the upper branches of the trees. "I can't find any more sticks, and the branches left are too strong for me to break."

"Go deeper in the woods then. We need a good-sized torch to carry this, these little twigs down here won't do."

Katie stared in the darkness, cringing at a hissing sound that came after a second. She turned back to where she was facing wide, open space of Zekitunakwa's main area and sighed.

"It's too dangerous."

"I'll go with you!" Sadie cheered, holding a hand up and shaking it in excitment. This was responded with a quick throat clearing from Eva.

"What did I tell you two? The more you keep apart, the better we will do."

Justin leaped down from the tree tops and looked around the immediate area. He leaned in to Eva.

"You know, Ezekiel never said you _couldn't_ use the same wood the other team did. I mean, they just _left __**four torches**_ sitting right there! Heck, they probably moved on to the next challenge already, is it really their wood anymore?"

Eva smirked. "Hrm, you're right." She made her way to the torches, picking them up one by one. "Thanks Justin, I actually like you."

Ezekiel's horse galloped back into the setting, its rider still being placed firmly on it.

"Yo everybody, what's up? H-hey Eva, those sticks were used by the-"

"Justin?" The called-out contestant replied.

He shrugged. "What? You said on my contract that I am allowed to make game-wise decisions for unclear events while you're not around and the issue rises." As he went on, Eva started lighting the torches, all four at once.

"I- well," At this point Ezekiel began scratching the back of his head. "Um... but it's obvious that- but now I am aro- ugh! Fine!"

He pointed a finger at Justin while Eva handed out a torch to Izzy, and another to Bridgette. "You win this round man, but mock my words I _will_ be back next time this happens with more carefully worded rules in my favor!"

Ezekiel galloped away, the five campers and one chef all smiling in response.

"Hey, that was pretty cool." Eva said.

"I'm your only hope when it comes to this guy. Anyway, I don't want to give away too much of the last challenge, I just want to say to take your time and that you can still make a comeback."

Justin walked off, and Eva only watched as she walked away before handing the second-to-last torch to Sadie and keeping the final one for herself.

"Hey, I didn't get one!" Katie cried.

Eva walked over to the vine and pulled it down. "We only had four. Becides, that's what you get for chickening out of the woods. I see I can tell the difference between you two now."

"But," Sadie said, closing in on the navy-fur-clad camper. "Katie would be so much better at this than I am! She could keep a better grip on the vine, and- wait, also she can hold the torch better! I mean look at me, my hands are all-"

"Oh, but I think you would be much more suited for this. You seem stronger." Eva took a hand off the vine to poke Sadie's gut. "You have much more room for muscle in your body."

Sadie fumed. "Okay, really? First Bridgette hates Katie, then you? Fine! If it takes you to like me to like her..." She jumped up on the vine, somehow going up much higher than Eva's place was.

"I just told you," Bridgette ran into the scene, "I don't hate Katie, I was only saying that Izzy is trying to start a conflict with Eva so _if_ Eva was staging a conspiricy, then Izzy would be her first target!"

Eva managed to deal with Sadie's added weight to the vine and took a few steps back, her hand long being re-added. "Bridgette, I think you're projecting yourself on me." She turned her head up. "Anyway Sadie, are you sure you want to ride with me? I'm warning you: I have a strong throwing arm."

"Yes!"

"Wait for me!" Izzy cried, jumping up one of the closeby trees and leaping off to a point on the vine even higher than that of the other two campers.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: *In the Total Zeksmit Swimsuit.* I don't want Eva alone with one other camper. Or, maybe I do, but not without me spying on them!

* * *

><p>The three of the Screaming Buffalo flew through the forest's hot air, leaving Bridgette and Katie by themselves.<p>

"So that conversation back at the tree had nothing to do with hating me?" Katie asked, curiously.

"No!" She replied, the exclamation being out of confusing more than anything.

"Then how come when Sadie asked if you hated her, your first answer was that you didn't hate her, not that you didn't hate me?"

"...Because I didn't know you guys think like that?"

"Oh, okay then.

"So Bridgette, what do we do now?"

"It shouldn't take long before the vine gets back..."

* * *

><p>In a swift move, Izzy wrapped the vine around a random, thin branch before turning her back to see Eva flaring up the other cutout. (The first long since becoming a pile of extinguished ash.)<p>

"Hey Izzy!" Eva called, "I thought you liked setting stuff on fire! What are you doing over there?"

Before either Eva could continue or before Izzy had to think of a response, the former turned to the other team (now out of their leopard skin outfits and in their Total Zeksmit Swimsuits) to see them assembling a stone cart out of the pile of rocks and planks. Courtney glared back at the other team and moved the room divider to obscure their project.

"Girl, like that would do anything." Leshawna said. "Ezekiel's gonna come back any second now and tell them anyway, and they already saw the base."

"But Eva's too disorganized to tell them what to do, Izzy wasn't looking and doesn't trust her, and Katie and Sadie are idiots. This is for when Bridgette gets here."

"Oh yeah, when is the water girl getting here? I'm startin' to get worried." As Leshawna said that statement, Izzy unlooped the vine and threw it back across the pond.

"Never if they're using the vine." At this point, Courtney's voice lowered to a whisper. "Izzy wrapped that around a tree branch for some reason."

Galloping was heard once more as Ezekiel examined the still burning cutout, next to its ash-pile sibling.

"Alright," The host shouted, "Killer Jackrabbits, listen to this too because this is important. The Scraming Buffalo are allowed to use the same pile of rubble that you have to make their cart to race you to the finish line back at the cabin grounds. Also, Lindsay, I passed Beth on the way here. She told me to say she said hi."

Courtney groaned and pushed the divider so that it fell flat to the ground.

"Hey," Ezekiel said, "The other team's gonna need that for privacy."

Eva opened the treasure chest, picked up her dark blue bikini, and began taking off the matching skin outfit. "Privacy schmivacy. That's one thing Izzy and I can agree on, right?"

"Yes..." She grumbled, quickly perking up at Ezekiel's laughter in the background. Sadie only glanced down the pond and happen to catch seeing Bridgette fly across and jumping off to the other side, landing face down in the mud. Izzy ran up to her, naked at this point, and threw Bridgette's own TZ Swimsuit on her head.

"No time to explain!" The redhead shouted, pointing to the rubble by the opposing team. "Change into this and start building a car out of that!"

"Oh, um..." Ezekiel broke from his laughter and began darting his eyes around. "Bridgette, if you want some privacy yourself I can-"

He briefly lost his balance on the horse, causing him to reach out and grab the first thing closest to him - unfortunately, that landed his hand up the horse's nose. The four-legged creature let out a loud neigh, snorted, and darted off deeper into the forest, throwing Ezekiel off and causing him to slam on the ground.

It was then that Bridgette finally raised her head, turning to Ezekiel nearby.

"Wasn't that your horse?"

"Kathy'll find it. Anyway,"

He placed a hand on the ground and started setting himself back up, "About the race course. There's no _clear_ path you _have_ to follow, but-"

He saw that Bridgette herself had already gotten up. Himself only at the point where he could see her feet and lower legs, he caught sight of the light blue skin garmet falling to her feet, with Izzy's hands being the culprit in taking that down. Ezekiel quickly ducked back down in the dirt and started shoveling some of the ground to the side of his face that was nearer to the surfer.

Katie swung in next, her land inflicting a cry of pain from below her.

"Wow." She said, "Does the ground here feel... clothy? To you girls?"

"No," Bridgette was clearly trying to hold back smack to Izzy as the latter began slipping off her top and the show editted another box of pixellation over the nature girl, "Because you're the only one standing on Ezekiel." After this, she lightly shoved Izzy backward and rushed to put her outfit on.

Katie looked down. Her feet were indeed digging into his back. Eva walked to the now completed team, herself dressed in the next outfit, and clapped twice.

"Alright Izzy and Bridgette, chop chop. Naked time is over-" Noticing Katie, she smirked yet again. "Just look at _Sadie_. She's a fast dresser. Katie, do you think you can do better than _Sadie_?"

Katie's eye twitched.

* * *

><p>"Alright," Ezekiel narrated, walking through the woods again. His outfit was notably now stainless. "It's been roughly twenty minutes now and both teams have... let's just say 'completed' their carts, to get this story running. This isn't really a time limit or anything, it's just how long it took to get a new outfit over at the loser's place."<p>

"Ezekiel," Courtney said, "There's still no sign of Beth."

He shrugged. "Kathy'll find her. So, I think the best route for you to take will be around this pond, then as soon as you get out of this forest go south. You can go through the hills or _aaaaall the way around them_, either way you should enter the camp from north. Now, assuming you're both done, you both seem to have your carts done so that-"

"Thanks to my team not listening about not letting the enemy see what we're doing." Courtney interjected.

"Oh come on!" Leshawna called, "_You_ got that idea from _them_!"

"-One camper pulls and the other three or four ride." Ezekiel finished. "So who's pulling? As always, I think the team captain should get the final word in-"

"Izzy." All of the Screaming Buffalo called except the mentioned camper in question, who simply raised her hand with a grin.

"Jackrabbits?" Ezekiel asked.

Courtney and Leshawna exchanged glances.

"Well," The former naturally spoke up first, "Leshawna obviously weighs the most out of us, if she was riding _in_ the cart there's a higher risk it could fall apart-"

"Oh no, we tested that already." The other teammate retorted, "All three of us here can sit in that thing, no problem. Becides, you're the speedy one, you run. My extra weight will only help drag this thing foreward when we're going downhill."

Courtney could only reply with a stare, which Leshawna answered. They stayed like this until Lindsay leaped up, pointed behind them, and called, "Look! I see Beth!"

By this point the rope that had been looped through the Screaming Buffalo's cart was being pulled by Izzy, starting a journey slow enough to navigate through the heavy number of trees. Beth herself emerged while her opposing team began speeding up, and her appearance caused everyone who noticed her to gasp.

She had scratches and bruises across her from head to toe, a large crack in her glasses mirroring the former element. There were a few tears in her outfit, but nothing large and nothing that really exposed much more that it already did. Her fatigue caused her to lean against the nearest tree with one arm, the other arm drooping straight down along with her hyperventalating head.

"Oh, Beth." Courtney said before turning to her two less-beaten teammates. "Now see, she didn't get to help us build the car, so _she_ should run."

"No no no no no no!" Lindsay broke in. "Beth's been through a lot thanks to that forest! Look at how... tired and... dead she looks! And think about how long she got stranded in there! Like, twenty minutes us-time is like two hours forest time! Don't you know, time slows down in the woods!"

All three of her teammates stared at her.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Leshawna: If there's anything that causes time to slow down, it's talkin' to her. It took me ten minutes after the challenge to tell her what's wrong with what she said, but it felt like... at least _fifty_.

Courtney: My speed has been turned against me. *Sighs.*

* * *

><p>"I think Leshawna made a good point! You are the fastest, you should run!"<p>

"Alright, alright." Courtney sulked, grabbing the rope that looped through their own car. "I guess I'll run instead." She turned back to Beth and pointed at her. "But you _do_ owe the team one."

Beth could only react with a weak whine, causing Courtney to shoot her pointing hand back and drop her agressive look, replacing it with concern.

"Hmmm... Alright, alright. It doesn't have to be _now_. In fact, if we win, it doesn't have to be until Leshawna _does_ get voted off. But still, try to owe us one."

Leshawna blinked, following that she continued staring at the CIT quizzically.

* * *

><p>Two large blurs bursted out from the forest and sped right through its neighboring treeless plains. They both slowed, showing the one that emerged first was a cart made almost entirely out of stone stuck together with loose twigs. This vehicle was that belonging to the Screaming Buffalo, being kept rigid and strong even with the extra weight of Sadie, and even though they had one more than the other team. The other blur was a car made out of much more wood, it was noticably cracking in a few spots but in general it seems more detailed and larger than their opposing team's car.<p>

"I can't believe we didn't think about that!" Courtney yelled from her spot as the team's 'driver.' "They didn't have as much time, so they went for the quicker building method! That makes sense! But if that easier method, building out of rock instead of carved wood, also makes it hold more weight _and_ take more hits?"

"Girl!" Leshawna yelled back. To her right, Lindsay and Beth held their ears out, implying that the seated camper currently speaking was the only one who can really hear Courtney. "None of that matters as long as this goes faster!"

"But speed is almost all in the driver! And I- well..."

"Are you implyin' that you're not as fast or as good as Izzy?"

"Ugh! That jungle-raised womanchild nutcase?"

"CHAAAARGE!"

Before any of them could react to Izzy's outburst, there was a sound of a crash as the Killer Jackrabbits's cart was forefully pushed and tilted foreward before rebalancing itself. They turned to see the other team, its driver laughing at them and giving them a wave.

"Girl, that jungle-raised womanchild nutcase just got her car to hit ours!"

"Ignore her!" She said, less certainty in her tone this time. "We can win this with speed alone! Because yes, I am in fact the fastest one here! If we try to fight them, we'll only get this car broken and then we will lose!"

Izzy darted foreward, surpassing the other team. Eva looked at a rectangular storage area at the back of the cart and reached in, tossing out a number of pebbles on the grassy road.

"Well," Leshawna called, "_Clearly_ we can't win by speed alone if they caught up to us and are now goin' _faster_ than us."

Courtney groaned. "Fine! Shut up!"

After slipping several times on those same tossed out pebbles, Courtney let out a war cry and charged ferociously at the other team. All this did, however, was bump the Buffalo off slightly, whie the Jackrabbit's own car took a serious denting on the left side.

Courtney turned back with both a cross between a smug smirk and an annoyed glare. "Any other bright ideas?"

"Yeah I have one!" Izzy cried, "To eat my dust!"

The green-clad camper dashed to one of the hills risen slightly higher than the rest, ramping off of it and up into the air with her vehicle and its riding team following. Izzy cheered, jumped backwards to the cart's seats, and started quickly working with the vine-rope around the cart, shortening it and tieing it into the shape of a steering wheel. She grabbed this wheel, all the while still in the skies.

"It's time to put the petal to the me- stone!"

The makeshift car crashed on the ground below, a wheel flying off of the now stationary object and rolling down the prairie over by the forest. Courtney stopped, turning back at the rocky wreckage and pumping a fist into the air.

"Yes!"

She turned behind her. There was still a long way back to the campsite, much to all four Jackrabbits's dismay.

"Girl," Leshawna called, "Hurry up before they get back!"

Obeying them, she clenched the rope with her formerly free hand, putting both of their grips on the vine-belt, and ran off, the cart shortly following.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: *Deep sigh.* I really need to say this, my team is full of crazies. With Izzy and Eva being as bloodthirsty as they are, and Katie and Sadie blindly following one of _them_... I'm not gonna last. Things look tense at the Killer Jackrabbits, but I would rather be there than here. Unluckily for me Ezekiel refuses to switch the teams, even though he really likes me... I mean, knowing _him_ for a week I could try to be flirty and convince him to get me to switch with someone, but that isn't how I play. I don't _want_ to bend the rules in my favor. So instead I think I should step up and try to _fix_ my team's problems instead of wishing them away.  
>Bridgette: *Looks down then back at the camera.* In fact, <em>that<em> is how Izzy _should_ react when somebody tries to plot against you. Fighting fire with fire only gets you destruction. Fighting fire with water gives you something better. And fighting the mandatory dressing by trying to strip me is... I've been to nude beaches before. But I still didn't really like what Izzy did. That made me re-consider a lot about her. Along with _everything else_ she did today.

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

Izzy darted out of the crashlanding site with herself now off to the side of the car and one of her hands stretched out so that it was still holding onto the rope. She sped, sped towards her team's rivals and throughout the scene appeared to be gaining on them once again.

"Izzy, could you slow down?" Bridgette pointed, trying to analyze the other team's car as much as she could in the rather bumpy ride.

"NEVER!" She cheered, before blinking and asking in a more rational tone, "Why?"

"Because the other team's car looks like it's breaking down anyway."

Following this was the sounds of Katie and Sadie giggling, before Eva swung an open hand between them. Both of them silenced and the silencer spoke.

"We can't be sure about that just yet. Izzy, ram them."

"Hrm!" She shot back, "I will, but only because _I_ want to, not because _you_ do!"

After kicking up her running speed, she jumped back and completely took the wheel again.

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

"Hey!" Lindsay cried, "Leshawna, why are you squeezing next to me?"

"Did'ja see that dent on the side? If I stay over there, it's gonna break!"

"They're gaining on us!" Courtney cried after looking back, "But Leshawna, you just gave me an idea! Based on where they are now, they're going to ram us from the same side. But if you three all gather over, you could help block the broken side, protecting our cart from the other team!"

"Girl, if we do that the cart will break for sure! It's nothin' but wood! And weak wood too, I mean no offense but if _Lindsay_ can break it-"

"Hey! Stop insulting me!"

"No no no no no! I didn't mean it like that! I- wait a minute."

Leshawna grinned before she continued, though she continued recieving nasty looks from Lindsay and Beth since the 'If Lindsay can break it' comment. "Okay, let's just say something crazy happens and this idea doesn't work. That it would help more if we gathered on the right side, like we sorta are now, than on the left side. Would that mean you'll get yourself kicked off?"

"I garuntee, yes," Courtney shouted from the front. "That if this fails, I will put my status on the line. Because as a CIT, I know that it will _not_ fail."

Leshawna turned her grin to Lindsay and Beth, who's mood still haven't seemed to lighten. "Alright, you heard her, let's do this."

Just when the tip of the Screaming Buffalo's cart was starting to pass the back of the Killer Jackrabbits' and the cabins were so close that all of the campers could clearly see Justin finishing the details of the chalk line between the buildings, the three passengers of the Jackrabbits' cart shifted over to the busted side. To nobody's complete surprise, the seat side rattled and the cracks within it grew. Lindsay and Beth stared at their increasingly destroyed half.

Leshawna kept grinning. "Don't worry girls, Courtney _knows_ what she's doing."

"CHAAAARGE NUMBER TWOOOOOO!"

The cart completely split in half before Izzy could touch a single molecule of it, the busted side giving away as the three contestants within were dumped on the grass over a pile of highly fragile wood. Courtney, still holding the vine, continued to the finish, with the other team following.

"Yes!" Courtney cheered, getting confused stares from just about everybody else in the scene, "We won!"

"What are you talking about, eh?" Ezekiel giggled, stepping into the scene and stopping when his feet were right on top of the finish line. "Your cart's busted! Your team's left a few meters before the goal! I'm sorry but that's a total loss in my books!"

"Yes, but you only said that all teammates have to _touch_ a part of the cart at all times, and it ends as soon as the first member of the team and its cart crosses! I am the team, this was part of the cart, the other one was with those three over there!"

"But... I... no! That's like, something Chris would come up with yo!"

"So? It's what you described. It fits the rules. Sorry, Ezekiel, you might be used to 'Chris's rules' though."

"Ugh!"

Justin stepped in between them, "Hold on, hold on!" Following this he worked his way to Leshawna. "Ezekiel, if you would let me, I'll take care of this. Campers, I want everyone to hear this, so please follow me to the pileup so that the... injured girls over there can hear me too."

Ezekiel rolled his eyes. "Oh, _now_ what smart guy?"

* * *

><p>Justin cleared his throat. "Now, say you have a... ship. To make this easier for me to say, <em>this<em> ship is made of wood. Now, the ship gets some parts of it replaced by _metal_. Soon every single part of the ship is now metal. Is it the same ship? Well the logical answer would be yes. It still occupies the same complete space as you would think the original would, and because one piece was replaced at a time it was still called the whole ship. Now, going by that if you took the old wooden parts and assembled them back into a ship, would it be the same ship, giving you two copies of the ship, one wood and one metal? You would think that, but look at it more literally. Each metal replacement was just a scrap of metal before combining with the ship, and that's what earned its title as being a part of it. Its purpose. Its utility. The wood, on the other hand, would only make a new ship, since it was not focused on replacing the existing ship. What I'm trying to get at here is, the wood stops being the ship or even part of the ship once it breaks off. It's just wood. And that holds true with the wood in your cart; it broke off, it is no longer being utilized as a cart, and if it would in the future then it's not really the same cart, is it?"

Courtney blinked. "Yeah, but it's like... half!"

"Yes, the half that broke _away_ from what was the cart. Or car. And since it's no longer _the car_, Leshawna, Lindsay, and Beth were not touching it anymore, and so your team instantly loses."

"I-"

"Let me tell you this way. The ship's wood, the car's wood, the ship's metal- whatever. They're all made of atoms. These atoms sooner or later lose the bonds from what elements they make up, be it in only a few minutes or after thousands of years. And then the same atoms form something completely new. But are they the same object? Courtney, your face could be made of the same atoms that made up a pig's butt hundreds of years ago. Does that mean you and the pig are the same person? Or, does it make you a buttface?"

Courtney let out a small whine, "I... um... can I call my lawyers on this?"

"You could," Ezekiel said, starting to lighten up since his scowl from Justin stepping in a second time, "But they won't be here for a while. It's a long drive to get here from your hometown. Heck, it's a long ride from _my_ hometown, and that's closer to here than any of your's! Heck, once they make it, the elimination ceremony might even be over with! And the contracts state that after the challenge is officially over, a vote-off elimination must take place."

She lowered her head and walked away, sulking, with a concerned Lindsay and Beth finally stepping off of the pile of broken tree bark and following her back towards the woods. Bridgette stared off at her in concern until Ezekiel turned to her team and cheered,

"Alright girls, that's two nights in a row that you're safe! Go on, celebrate or... something!"

He walked with them to their cabin, leaving only Justin and Leshawna.

"That was awesome." She told him.

Justin slightly bowed and put a hand to his chest. "Don't mention it. I've dealt with some pretty rough bad guys myself."

"But... why did you go through all of that?"

"Well, for one thing, Ezekiel looked like he was gonna throw a fit over it. And an angry Ezekiel may be funny for you, but when you're the one he's directing un-pre-planned orders at, it's not so funny. But there's another thing, and that's when I overheard Courtney's promise to get herself eliminated should her plans fail, I couldn't help but think that you needed some support for the game."

"Aw, thanks." She said, finally standing up from the pile and shaking his hand. "You know, Gwen had her doubts about you, but I can't see why. You are a really good person."

She walked off to join the opposing team (hey, in spite of the team difference they are friendlier to her than her own team, especially between challenges) and Justin turned to the active camera, grinning.

"That's right, and you know who you are - it took me three episodes but I finally started. That's one."

Ezekiel ran back to the pileup, grinning at the co-host.

"You know what we should do while waiting for the next challenge? Build something awesome with all this scrap wood! I was thinking like a set of arrows or boomerangs or catapu- hey, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I just bent the rules again. This time in _your_ favor. Does this make up for the last time?"

Ezekiel crossed his arms, glaring at him.

"Well gamed. Well gamed."

Justin turned and walked back to the mess hall. When he was just barely in earshot, he said, "It's 'Well played.'"

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

Standing by the rather sudden border between the plains and the forest, Courtney tapped her foot nervously as Lindsay and Beth walked over.

"Okay, so Leshawna... did exactly as I said. And we... still lost. So, you know the deal, I lose the game."

"No! You... don't!" Lindsay cried.

"I- what?"

"Yeah, because Beth and I thought this over, Leshawna's totally not a good leader. Like you."

Courtney could only stare at her two allies/friends, trying to speak yet only being able to let out inconherant stutters.

"I agree," Beth added, "Because you really seem to care about us."

"No," Courtney retorted, "I say that Leshawna did exactly as I suggested and we still lost, so I thought if I said I would take the blame then-"

"But Leshawna didn't!" Lindsay cried, "She still snarked on you behind your back and everything! She's mean!"

"Hey! This is an alliance-"

"It may be but you're not gonna get us to change our vote. Becides, Beth and I thought this over, so we win two to one. More becides, why are you so sad that you're gonna be staying here? Shouldn't you be happy that we're not voting you off?"

Courtney took a step back and looked at the ground in confusion. "Yes, but my alliance-"

Beth, on the other hand, stepped foreward aggressively. "This isn't _your_ alliance. It's **ours.** And the most of _us_ think you should stay. That's two to one, that's how our alliance works after all!"

She finally shot her glance foreward again and muttered, "Fine. But I thought it was called a 'group.'"

"Hey, hey!" Lindsay walked over to her and began patting her shoulder, "You kind of _do_ have what it takes to lead this team afterall. You're a CIT!"

The pair of girls slowly made their way back to the campsite after that statement and a line of silence, leaving Courtney standning there, eventually turning her glance to the sky.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: Everything's turning against me. My promise, my alliance, and even my credentials! But it's all working _for_ me! It's keeping me in the game! So why do I feel so... _bad_? I mean, for the first time in my life, I feel terrible about being a CIT!

Leshawna: Things are actually lookin' pretty good for me now! During supper Courtney barely touched her food! She was looking at the floor the entire time! *Chuckles* That girl is _so_ dead.

* * *

><p><strong>(Elimination Ceremony)<strong>

Ezekiel shook his head from the podium.

"Killer Grass, I'm kinda dissapointed to see you here twice in a row. Becides Bridgette, the other team looked like the kind full of elimination fodder, you know? You girls make for some really nice drama, it's sad to see another one of you go. It really is."

His demeanor got more upbeat when he said this: "Now, if this game was hosted by Chris-"

"We get it." Courtney interrupted. "You think Chris hosts this show worse than you do. Now do you have anything else to say or can we move on?"

Ezekiel put a hand to his chin for a moment, then continued, "No, we don't. Justin, please bring up the plate of three marshmellows, and campers, please retreive the remotes under the bleachers."

Courtney was the only camper who hesitated in voting. Leshawna took note of this and lightly laughed.

"Okay," Ezekiel said as he tore out the printed paper, "When I call your name, come up here and get your marshmellow: Beth.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Courtney."

"What?" Leshawna leaped up. She scanned around her teammates. "Please tell me you two brunettes teamed up against Lindsay while I wasn't looking and she got herself voted off by accident."

Ezekiel chuckled. "You never know, Leshawna. Seeing the actual results of this, anything can happen here. _Anything_.

...

...

...

...

...

"But you were wrong! Lindsay gets the final marshmellow, and you have to pack your bags and go."

Having still stood through Ezekiel's statement and the pause in the middle, Leshawna shot a glare at Courtney. "You traitorous little-"

"I- I- I- I didn't vote for you!" She waved her hands franctically. "If it helps, I voted for Lindsay!" The named camper in question and her close friend gasped.

Courtney stood up as well, breathing heavily. "And look! Ezekiel just proved it! You know how in the first ceremony he counted us by their number of votes. You voted for me - _understandable_ - so that's one for me! Which means that Lindsay, who was called after me, must have also had one vote! That was mine! Yep, that's right, I tried to cover up my guilt of... things, by trying to vote off one of my own friends! Heh..."

Lindsay turned to the host, arms crossed and with Beth having a matching position. "She gave away that Beth and I agreed to vote for Leshawna! Can't you kick her off for that?"

"Meh... I'm sorry, but it was kinda obvious and... well... look, like I said earlier today, ever since the challenge ends there has to be a regular vote-off. This is so that anyone who quits or gets disqualified or is otherwise removed will not be 'saving' another contestant when they would have rightfully been kicked off. In case something like that happens, a double elimination would take place instead. But here's the problem: If I do that, I'll have to either cut an episode completely or make one episode into a reward challenge, and I don't want to do either, so I'll only allow removals after the final challenge if I absolutely need to. And right now, I don't really need to, especially since you just confessed your votes. Becides Lindsay, going by this logic you gave away Beth's vote, even if you said you discussed this over. The only oddball in this is what Courtney did, which I, to be honest, was kinda hoping you would all get after I called out Courtney's name in the ceremony before Lindsay's."

The ominous black car had pulled up again, with the four campers continuing their perfect attendance in its presence. Leshawna walked off the bleachers and started heading towards the cabins.

"Wait!" Courtney cried, running up to her, "You still don't think I'm a traitor, do you?"

Leshawna looked her up and down before smiling. "Well, not anymore. Maybe it's 'cuz I know I'll finally get a few days away from you, but now I think you're just adorable."

She continued walking, with Courtney staring at where she used to stand. Lindsay and Beth walked up behind her.

"Hey!" Courtney called in the general direction of the cabins, knowing full well that Leshawna either wouldn't be able to hear her or simply didn't care. Heck, possibly both. "Adorable? A _few_ days? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Careful Courtney..." Beth said threateningly. Courtney jumped back at her voice. "You have another potential friend right there. Wouldn't want to risk upsetting _that_ one too."

Courtney turned back and nervously scratched the back of her head. "Oh come on, guys, you're still not mad about that, are you?"

The other team stepped out to watch the remaining group, as the pair of ex-allies continued to send Courtney antagonizing glares until they walked back to their cabins, Courtney hesitating before she followed them.

"So Leshawna's gone?" Bridgette asked. "Wow."

"I'm not surpised." Izzy said, "Her team was all against her."

"I'm not surprised either." Eva muttered. "That's what you get for showing off without any backup."

Bridgette began walking back to her team's cabin. "Why do you think Lindsay and Beth were giving Courtney those looks?"

"Eh," Izzy shrugged, "Knowing Courtney it could be anything."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: My team is ahead by a longshot, I'm making one new friend while splitting her from her old friend, my biggest enemy is in an emotional panic and the last two campers who have so much as a **shot** against me are both gone now. Life. Is. _Sweet_.

* * *

><p>Leshawna walked by the trio, looking in their direction with her belongings now in hand, before continuing and entering the car. Her former teammates ran back out and up to the automobile, while Ezekiel closed the door and watched the car drive off. From the window, Leshawna waved over at Justin, who responded with the same.<p>

"Sassy girl Leshawna's gone, yet with the loss of one enemy, the previously tighter-than-a-hair-knot alliance is starting to fall apart! What will this lead to later? How will the Killer Jackrabbits survive? And who the heck is Courtney's boyfriend, anyway? Find out next time, on Total! Zeksmit! Plains!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Audition - Leshawna)<strong>

The camera clicked on, showing Leshawna standing in an empty football (European) field.

"'Sup Zeksplit, or whatever you call yourself. I'm Leshawna, and I'm here to show you why I should join your little game. And to do that, I'mma show you what I call my reality TV workout. And I'm callin' it that for a disclaimer: These feats would look _so unreal, Zeke!_"

The audition proceeded to go through clips of her working out in various ways, starting with a hurdle jump, then a number of pushups and situps, before finally showing her standing in front of a large weight.

"Alright. Watch this, I'm gonna lift fourty pounds without breaking a sweat."

She started to lift it, but before getting it over her shoulders it slipped. Leshawna dodged out of the way as the barbell fell downwards, at an angle that caught the edge of her pants.

Somehow, as it plummeted to the ground, it took Leshawna's pants with it, crushing them against the floor of the room she was in. She blinked at the camera and quickly pulled down her shirt to cover herself.

"Uh... yeah, this is akward. I _can_ lift that - don't think I can't! - but not while I'm naked between the waist and feet."

She trudged to the camera for the next several seconds shifting towards the camera until she was close enough to reach out (with her free hand) and shut off the camera - something she nearly did before hearing the voice of someone offscreen.

"Ma'dam, may I help you?"

The voice's owner walked onscreen, a certain Latino dressed in a red overshirt and carrying a pair of pants. "You seem to have suffered a wardrobe malfunction, so I saw your spare sweatpants and ran here. For you."

"Oh, really?" She backed from the camera and stuck her hands out, elbows bent towards the clothing and herself seemingly no longer carring about exposing herself in the audition. Leshawna took them and quickly slipped them on. "Thanks. But who are you?"

"My name is Alejandro, and I couldn't help but hear that you were auditioning for _Total Zeksmit_."

She gasped. "You know about that? The show hasn't even started!"

"Heh. Let's just say I know one of the guys who works there."

* * *

><p><strong>Votes:<strong>

Beth: Leshawna

Courtney: Lindsay

Leshawna: Courtney

Lindsay: Leshawna

**Total:**

Courtney - 1

Lindsay - 1

Leshawna - 2

* * *

><p><strong>Teams:<strong>

**Screaming Buffalo:** Bridgette (Captain), Eva, Izzy, Katie, Sadie

**Killer Jackrabbits:** Beth, Courtney (Captain), Lindsay

**Eliminated:** Heather, Gwen, Leshawna

* * *

><p><strong>Footnotes:<strong>

**A:** Like Ezekiel almost calling the Killer Jackrabbits by the wrong name last chapter, the mention of reward challenges was a reference to a scrapped element that this fan fic _used_ to have before I got rid of it and re-built this from the ground up. Yeah, this was going to be longer - at twenty chapters instead of thirteen - but the added chapters seriously harmed the pacing so I just went with making this a miniseason. Which I think is a good thing, as season 2 is where things are really supposed to go down.

**Closing AN:**

My reasoning for eliminating Gwen and Leshawna early is a little... spoilery, and kind of gives away one of the main character's storyline. Basically it's something of a plot advancement, with them gone it's gonna be much harder for the remaining campers to take down Eva once she starts trying to climb to the top. Which she will, _very_ soon.

Well I am sorry to say that I am putting this on hiatus until I publish a new story on this site. Simply put, after _Movie Day_'s beginning (which was over a year ago now) I feel sort of like I've been stuck in a rut. Everything I had published since then either hasn't really gotten where I'd like it to be yet (IE where I think the "real" meat of the story kicks off) or is simply negligible in general. So throughout this rut I _had_ been working on a few other projects, mostly this, but to be honest this fan fic really still won't kick off for maybe another two chapters so I doubt you would be interested in having this as the primary work I'm updating. Especially considering the slow rate.

As I said on my profile page, this is part of a set of updates to be expected during September. After this I may revive _Total Drama World Tour Rewrite_ with its recreation/new version just to get it out of the way, and after that is where things should really start going down (in my general fanworks, not on this) and stop being so set in stone.

Next up: **Cosplay Roughplay**. The final eight are once again put into akward outfits, this time these deliberately hinder them on the five-part relay race!


	4. Cosplay Roughplay

**Total Zeksmit Plains**

**Chapter 4: Cosplay Roughplay**

**Beginning AN:**

Just note that pretty much all of the works involved in said "cosplay" are made up by me (any similarities to anything else is coincidental, bar obvious pop culture nods like _Lethal Lava_), except for TZ itself and EMDHS. So sorry, this chapter will not be the pop culture brigade the title may imply. Although by this point I think I have written enough stories in enough fandoms that I _could_ rep eight of them this chapter... but I won't.

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits Cabin)<strong>

"Lindsay?" Beth asked to the bed above her.

"Yes Beth?"

"Should we forgive Courtney now?"

"Ugh, really Beth? It's only been three days. That's like, one day in Ezekiel Time!"

"But... she seems upset."

"Good! She's mean, she deserves it!"

They both continued lying on their backs on their own seperate beds, before Beth turned away once again.

"When is she coming back, anyway?"

"Oh. Hm... did you know where she went?"

"No. The... mess hall?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: Three of the game's loosest cannons are gone! I wish I could celebrate, but... I can't. Not when I'm on the chopping block for elimination! A- a- ...again! *Gasps.* That's right! This is the first time since the beginning I am _really_ up for elimination! And just like before... yes! It's because I'm surrounded by idiots!

Beth: I thought kicking off Gwen and Leshawna would bring us closer together. But... wow. This isn't it at all!

Lindsay: Urgh! I'm not going to forgive her! She betrayed me, and the last time that happened, the traitor payed well! Um... wait, by last time would _you_ say that would be Heather as my ally, or Gwen as my captain? *Shrugs.* Meh, either way, Courtney's going to _pay_.

*Cue intro*

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo Cabin)<strong>

"Psst!" Izzy hung her head upside-down from her bunk to speak to her bunkmate. "Bridgette!"

She streached out with a yawn before deciding to answer. "What?"

"I know you still think I'm weird and crazy, but I would give you _anything_ if you vote for Eva. Like, I would vote everyone you voted for for the rest of the game. Even for myself if I have to!"

"That sounds like a great deal," she sat up and glanced at Eva. Still sleeping. "But I don't know. Eva's been a star player after all. And ever since the last challenge you just got creepier and creepier."

"Ugh!" She still kept her voice to a whisper. "You're always so indecisive! Why can't you take a target and stick with one?"

Bridgette backed up, defensive. "Woah. First of all, voting is confidential. Who wants to eliminate who is none of your buisness, unless they trust you. And I personally don't. And second of all, I'll think of that when the issue comes up. I have been the captain of this team for a week now. These kinds of decisions are important to me, believe me, and I don't want to treat it so lightly."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: This is torture! If I could only take the game in my hands, this would all be a lot easier and I would be in the finals in the blink of an eye. But no, I have to be _nicer_ to everybody, and I can't just give Eva the beating she deserves!

Bridgette: ...I actually do want Eva gone. In fact, she's at the top of the "campers I want gone" list! It's just that she is a good player and... well... Izzy's also climbing that list. Probably with her teeth. *Shudders.* Seriously, she creeps me out.  
>Ezekiel's voice, outside and from loudspeakers: GOOD MORNING CAMPERS!<br>*Bridgette is tossed back in surprise.*  
>Ezekiel: TODAY'S CHALLENGE WILL MIX THINGS UP A LITTLE, EH. AGAIN. PLEASE MEET ME AT THE BONFIRE AREA SO WE CAN BEGIN.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>(Elimination Area)<strong>

"Is somebody going to be voted off already?" Lindsay asked.

Ezekiel looked over at the lake. "No. Okay campers, our challenge today will start with something a little... different. Well, first of all, it's in five parts eh. But like, the first part isn't that connected to the other parts. Okay, how do I say this... ah! Got it! Parts two through five are another relay race, while part one determines your rank for the er... 'theme' of the challenge!"

"The theme?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, didn't you get it? Every challenge has a theme! The last theme was going foreward in time, the one before that was sports, and before that was... uh... heist movies?

"Let's ignore that and cut to the chase. _Just_ for this little mini challenge, the teams don't really matter. You have to run from here to the Zekitunakwa lake, and uh... that's really it! The placing you get determines what order you can pick... well... I'd like to keep it a secret for now. So if you would, start behind that white line."

Getting into position, he could tell that they were impatient. Izzy shot a look over at Eva, who payed no attention to this. The fit geek's own eyes were focused on Courtney, mouthing a simple and quick "You're too late" before moving back to Ezekiel and waiting for him to start. Which he would have originally, but with Eva looking at him he gave a quick laugh first.

"GO!" The host shouted, firing a flare gun into the air.

All of the contestants darted off at the sound, save for Bridgette making a quick trip before following them in suit. Ezekiel chuckled.

"You see Justin," He said, "Not messing with the game turned out entertaining too. I mean, Eva's now holding everyone by the necks here, eh. I would _never_ think that was gonna happen. If I was like Chris, she would be kicked off first and I'd break my arm-"

"Back." The co-host corrected.

"-Trying to get either Heather or Gwen into that villain slot."

"Um, Ezekiel?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"Shouldn't you be on that tractor and going over to the lake by now?"

He took off in a run, the opposite direction from where the campers went. Laughing, Ezekiel returned on said vehicle, pausing to let Justin get on.

"Wow, I almost forgot!"

As the pair of showrunners took off, turning into a red blur with a bit of teal, it wasn't long before they began passing the contestants. Some longer than others. Courtney, Izzy, Eva, and thanks to a quick comeback Bridgette being the longest.

Along their way, they only caught a glimpse of the following conversation between Courtney and Eva:

"So, Eva." The first began, "I was thinking over the last three days-"

"About your friends hating you?"

"-No. About your progess."

"That I still have a full team of five, I'm still waiting for a window to use my planned strategy to knock off Bridgette, Izzy, and Katie - in that order - and your team is on the losing side?"

"Aha!" Courtney choked. "But, you failed to realize _who_ I have voted off! Um... Gwen and Leshawna, they were my biggest enemies! Gone! And when you met me for that not-really secret meeting in the woods, you said you could kick off Bridgette and Katie 'for me.' Where's your proof of that? Huh?"

"You'll get your proof when your team stops sucking. And seeing as all that's left is you and a pair of idiots, that's not gonna happen anytime soon."

"Well-"

"And let me guess. You were only thinking about this because your friends hate you now, and now you can do things other than slip into their _girly_ habits of discussing nail polish and Justin's butt?"

Courtney gasped, picking up her pace. The finish line was only a few feet away, with Bridgette and Izzy as her only leads. Which she soon passed, thus needing to shout the following: "I have a boyfriend! I wouldn't _think_ of thinking about other men's butts! He may think about other girl's boobs, but we have a very small agreement with very tight rules _and_ that's because I can use it as a way of saying that I'm better than him!"

With that last statement, she flew past Izzy, Bridgette, and the goal line, with the surfer and wild girl predictably following. And Eva came after that.

"Alright Ezekiel," Courtney said, skidding to a stop. "We did your little race, what are we picking here?"

"We'll wait..." Was the host's reply, just as Sadie then Katie crossed the line, "Until everybody gets here."

The two members of the show staff as well as the six present campers waited, looking down the line as the last two began trotting down.

Ezekiel was visibly displeased when Lindsay stopped her jog and into a walk. While Beth kept her own jog, to the point where she ranked penultimate in crossing the finish line. Rolling his eyes, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called, "Is Lindsay's gonna be late _all_ the time from now on?"

Ignoring him, Justin pushed over a large box, stopping it once it was right by Ezekiel's feet. He ran off just as his superior began to exposit. "Anyway, the race has determined your outfits for the rest of the challenge! Here we have our choice of various fictional characters of six famous ladies - and one famous gentleman and another 'gentle'man - of your choosing! Maggie Ma from _Lethal Lava_,"

He reached into the box and lifted up a rather small red cat suit, with several bits of crimson, vermillion, orange, and yellow into flame patterns. Of note, the ends of the arms each had one goldenrod "V"-shaped object clipped onto them.

"Ms. Mermaid from the _Teal Sea_,"

This time, he pulled out a long, cerulean colored dress with a matching giant fish tail sticking from the bottom, apparantly attatched to it.

"The memetic kilometer-long dress belonging to Editaa from that show-within-a-show reality TV parody _Lose!_,"

And this was, as he said but with less hyperbole, a long dress with alternating red and chartreuce stripes. Lindsay cringed at it, remarking "What ugly colors!"

"Wingy from _Super Kickbutt Lacrosse Team_,"

What looked like a normal green sports uniform, aside from the large, white wings sticking from the back and "SKLT Member: WINGY." written on the chest. His other hand held up a helmet.

"Chris McClean from _Extreme Musical Drama High School_ - with weights added to show how obnoxious even pretending to be him is -"

A more familiar, obvious outfit. At getting to the part with the weights, Ezekiel reached a hand down to near the bottom of the pants, jiggling one sandbag on one leg to draw attention to it. The other leg had a matching addition.

"The Blind Dagger from... well... _the Blind Dagger_,"

This one only looked like a series of black bandages formed to some clothing, with a seperated blindfold. Notably, five of the bandage sets had knives sticking out from them.

"Highness Heel from _Shoehorn_,"

A standard, decently sized shirt and skirt. However, what was noted about this one was the high heels with extremely sharp heels, and the fact that the shirt and skirt's backs were both attatched to what looks like a giant shoe. Based on the angle of the shoe, the person who got this would be forced to lean down at an akward angle.

"And our 'freebee' if you don't mind walking with your boobs exposed, Geoff from this very show."

You should know what this one looks like. The hat was included.

"PS, we set up a very temporary changing room over..." he pointed to a small wooden shack in the distance, "There, so you don't have to run to camp and back."

Beth cringed. "But wait... Editaa has a really long dress that makes it hard to run in, Blind Dagger has a weird knife thing and is blinded- _oh..._"

Ezekiel laughed. "Yep! These outfits are supposed to hinder you, or in the case of Geoff humiliate you! Now, you teams - and yes, I am re-enstating teams - can go over and decide which outfits the earlier ones should 'reserve' for which teammates. Don't think that you have garunteed keepers, though! Especially because the very first and very second winners are on different teams!

"Oh, and a lowdown of the challenges from here on out. First you all have to swim out in the lake until you reach that rock out there tagged with a flag. For whoever gets the Blind Dagger outfit and you don't find the blindfold see-through enough, the flag is also sprayed with flower-scented air-freshener. Once you reach the rock, tag it, and swim back here. To be nice, you will get a forklift ride from here to the next challenge: A wooden wall. Climb up one side, and down the other side. You can drop off the other side, but it's kinda tall so I wouldn't recommend that at first. Then you go to the woods for a log roll in the pond where you must last ten seconds before you move on, and finally we'll drive you up to that huge cliff up there for the first time in the game, where you will enter a scented flag-marked cave and have to slide down a very long cave tunnel thing, and _then_ find a way to get the guilded Zeke hanging from the ceiling in the final room! The first camper who grabs that Zeke wins immunity for their entire team, while the other must send one of their's home! Now, let's begin! Interns! Send in the forklifts!"

As on command, seven interns and one Justin drove through, each of them on said vehicles.

"Now, we're only really doing the forklift so that you don't get totally overkilled by the outfits, especially that mermai... pfft, who am I kidding, we're doing this because I find this amazing yo!"

"Oh, and girls," Justin called from his own ride, "Whoever places first gets to ride with me."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: While I still think coming in first is the best option for each race - a way to prove my worth to Lindsay and Beth - there's the chance one might think that I am doing this to get close to Justin instead. And I want to make it perfectly clear to my boyfriend that I'm **not**. For those of you that don't know, he's... eh... alright, but if I send him the wrong message he might... well... be a big emotional pain about it.

Lindsay: This is like the first time I want my team to lose, you know, so I'm rooting for Courtney to do bad so that Beth and I will have even _more_ reasons to vote her off! Oh, right, Courtney tends to do really really good and stuff... ugh... why can't she do the right thing and throw challenges alltogether for our sakes?

Bridgette: Our team came to a very... odd decision. Katie, Sadie, Eva, and Izzy all called dibs on an outfit they thought they could specialize in. Courtney took one of the best choices so I was left with either a really tight magma-themed suit, a giant shoe costume, _aaaaand_...  
>Bridgette: *Suddenly crosses arms and glares.* Well, thanks to <em>Izzy<em> three days ago, I already exposed myself. What's harmful about doing it again?

* * *

><p>Courtney herself left clad in the outfit resembling the EMDHS host himself, shrugging. "You know teammates, I don't really mind the extra weights."<p>

Following her was Bridgette, clad in the longer-than-knee length blue shorts and flushing at the open pink shirt. She rubbed the tall hat on her back and forth, as though that would protect her modesty more than the pixelated grid over her bare chest. Ezekiel could be faintly heard saying "Oh, no..." as he burried his hands in his face. Justin, on the other hand, seemed to be trying not to laugh at her.

"Can I at least close up the shirt? It looks like that would work." The camper called out.

Ezekiel did not move his face. "Sorry, but no. I gotta treat you like I treat every other camper. And every othe camper would be forced to wear it like Geoff does. Blame him."

Izzy lept out in a black blindfold, with matching bandages going all around her. From her wrists to just before her elbows, from her neck to just above her belly, all around from her waist to her knees, and her forehead and feet were all decorated in the black wrappings. The ones on her wrists, feet, and forehead were the knife bearers. "Don't worry about me guys, let Izzy trust her own instincts!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: On the plus side, the girl that has this weird like-hate relationship with me can barely see a thing!

* * *

><p>Eva emerged wearing the red-and-green dress that trailed a few feet behind her. She sighed. "I can't believe this was the most dignifying out of the costumes. But hey, I called dibs."<p>

Sadie had some mild trouble getting out of the shed, banging her wings on the door's sides twice before finally thinking of turning herself to the side, and revealing that the sports uniform was probably about a size too small.

Katie had to jump out, and hopped a few times - before falling to the floor and having to crawl. She flapped the mermail tail that was the cause of this around several times, in hopes that it would accomplish anything.

Beth had to pull at the ground to get the heels of her high-heels out, then had to avoid tripping due to not being used to the limitations of the skirt and the angle she was leaning foreward on the fronts of her feet at. She leaned back a little once she was finally out, resting on the shoe that belonged to Highness Heel. (The cause of walking at said angle.)

Finally, there was Lindsay, having the worst reaction to her bright red, orange, and yellow catsuit. Unlike the rest of the campers, the outfit was so tight on her that it showed a very obvious panty line. She gripped at the orange V-shaped things on the ends of the costume's arms, pulling them off with a quick click and examining them.

"And what are _these?_"

"Dude." Ezekiel said sternly, getting a closer look at the attatchments. "Pretty sure those are supposed to be boomerangs."

"What? What kind of a stupid addition-"

"Hey though! You're only saying that because you don't know how they work! You see-"

Justin quickly ran between them, facing Lindsay holding a hand to lightly push Ezekiel back. He gave a nervous laugh.

"You see Lindsay, you don't... try to debate with Ezekiel about hand-crafted weapons like this. It's a little pet peeve of his. Y-you know what, why don't we start the challenge already? I mean, you're all ready and Ezekiel explained everything, so..."

Ezekiel shoved down the arm Justin held out. "Because _I_ am the one who gets final word in starting them."

Justin spun around. "That isn't an official rule, though." He muttered. "In some cases, the order can go to me, then Kathy, then Geoff, then-"

"Okay fine, but I'm gonna start the challenge instead. Just so I can have a private talk with you about it-"

His speech grinded to a halt when he noticed Bridgette standing becides him, clearly annoyed. "Does this mean we can start the challenge?"

"Um, yeah. Begin!"

They dove in unison, their slow speed after hitting the water making Ezekiel shake his head.

"I shoulda thought this over a little more." He said, turning to the vehicle his co-host was currently getting into. He sighed. "I never thought Bridgette of all people would get that outfit. This was kind of a bad idea, you know? And that's saying a lot, because all of my challenges before were only good ideas."

"Are you sure? Because right now, your _favorite contestant_ is winning."

Ezekiel gasped, turning to see that Bridgette was, in fact, in the lead. "Justin! Are you accusing me of playing favorites this episode?"

He shrugged, looking as Courtney began passing the pink, blue, and pixel-clad camper. "Hm. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"Hey Izzy!" Bridgette shouted behind her. "Are you okay back there?"

If anything, she seemed to be struggling with the knives more than the blindfold. She floated in place in the water, toying around with the additions to her limbs and feeling the way they cut the water.

She soon paused, treading water and soon becoming the last placed-camper in the race. She sniffed the air a few times.

Cackling, Izzy began stroking foreward, using the knives to somehow slice through the water. She soon splashed past Katie (the mermaid-dressed girl now ironically being at the back of the line) and caught up to a puzzled Beth and a fuming Lindsay, giving them a wink as she briefly slowed herself down. Submerging herself completely, she sped through the line once more, a black blur that dove from underneath Eva and Sadie. The former shot a look at the latter, then at the CIT in second place.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Okay, personally I think I waited too long to put my plan into motion. That was a mistake. And it will be the last mistake I will _ever_ make. Now that I have the perfect shot...

* * *

><p>"SADIE!" She cried, "That was Izzy that just passed us! Why don't cha try to start <em>your<em> training to get ahead with her?"

"T-t-training?"

"Yeah! You wanna have a shot at getting into the final two, right?"

"O-of course I do! But with Katie, of course!"

"Well then find a way to put that outfit to use! Show them whose boss!"

"But why? Izzy's on our team."

"She won't be forever, and neither will Bridgette. Courtney is also our enemy, and _she's_ ahead of almost all of us!"

"But- I don't know how to use my wings to help me! So far they just block all the water I swim through, and that's making it harder! Becides, I thought you were telling this to Katie, too! What happened to that? Do you think-"

"I think Katie's outta hope when it comes to this challenge. And I only coach those worthy of making it near me."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Sadie: I'm... worthy of something? EEEEEE YES! I... I'm sorry, I've just never been _too_ good with being popular. Neither was Katie, to be honest- b-b-but that's an _us_ thing, not a _her_ thing! I mean... well, shoot, it sounds like I'm insulting her! But I'm not! Gah! Okay, forget that. The only time I felt like I was up there in the game was when I was on Heather's alliance back at the beginning of the show. And I got eliminated, like, ten seconds into the match! *Deep sigh.* But those were the happiest ten seconds of my life... followed by the worst day of my life, since I found out that Heather just wanted to double-cross me! But, it's okay, she's out of the picture now. I need to focus more on Eva! Yyyyyyes!

Izzy: ...So, looking back I think I just trolled Sadie and Eva by accident. *Laughs.* That felt amazing, can someone please tell me why Bridgette doesn't like this?

Lindsay: Why is Izzy so good with a blindfold, anyway? You'd think the stupid jungle- or cave-girl would spend most of her time running around naked! Ugh!

Courtney: I don't care if it's part of the challenge. I am _not_ losing to a topless girl.  
>*There's knocks from the outside.*<br>Izzy: I heard that! Just be thankfull I can't taunt you _this_ challenge!

* * *

><p>Seeing Bridgette constantly being just a few feet away from her, Courtney decided that a quick speed tactic of her own was to toss her legs up higher as she kicked, the weights causing huge splashes in the lake's waters. She smiled and laughed for the first time this challenge as she went past Bridgette's feet, than midsection, then finally ended up neck to neck.<p>

"Good morning." She said, clearly trying to shove in slyness.

Bridgette answered with some tone of her own. "Morning."

"So... that's rock is pretty close to us now, huh?"

"It is."

"Who do you think is going to win?"

"Wellll... Izzy."

The same black blur sped below them, going just-so-slightly faster than their average speeds.

"Oh no you don't..." Courtney muttered under her breath.

But she, Bridgette, and even Izzy were distracted by the sounds of even louder splashes behind the three of them. Turning, they saw Sadie now shifting her hands together, using her wings as means of gliding through it. She leaped in and out of the lake's surface like a dolphin, zooming past the now-stopped Bridgette, Izzy, and Courtney, and tapping the rock first. Ezekiel cheered.

"And taking an unexpected lead, Sadie!"

"HEY!" Lindsay cried ahead of her, "Courtney! I saw you stop back there! That's more than enough reason to vote your sorry butt off!"

"Dude! Lay off on her!" Beth said, then taking a second to pant as she breathed out some of the excess lake water, "You talked down to her three days by now! I think she gets the message!"

"Um, Beth, the message is 'Don't mess with us.' And I think it takes a lot to get that through."

"Really? Because I think 'We can and will vote you off if we have the chance' gives that out enough. You can shun her, but _don't talk her down like that_. We _did_ disobey her and everything..."

"Hm- well... Hey! I don't tell you how to treat her, do I?"

Beth shot her a more direct look. "No, but to be honest I'm surprised you haven't yet."

"Alright!" Ezekiel cheered. "Izzy's got the second tag, followed by Courtney and Bridgette! Interns and Justin, rev up your engines! Half of the campers are gettin' ready to come back eh!"

Lindsay took no note of the host's announcement. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you've been taking this a little too hard. Come on, Lindsay, when I met you back at the start of the show, you seemed sweet, but ever since Courtney blurted that she voted for you... what happened to that?"

"It's because I got cheated twice on this show, okay? First that Heather girl used me, then Courtney thought I was just an idiot! And while I never got the chance to toy around with Heather, _here_ I can..."

Beth rolled her eyes.

"Hey!" Lindsay snapped, "I saw that! You know, if you're going to be so defensive of her, you're going to have to choose! In fact, pick right now! Mean girl, or me?"

Beth's arms briefly tensed, she slightly lost her pacing in the water. Her face was, for what to her felt like the first time in the challenge, slammed to the lake thanks to the big shoe on her back. When she emerged, all she could utter was a clueless "Uh..."

"Wrong choice."

As Lindsay began speeding past her in one direction and Sadie went by in the other, Ezekiel continued.

"Placing fifth is Eva!"

* * *

><p>"Actually, I'm <em>not<em> used to warm water." Bridgette said. "I'm from the town of Eversun."

Courtney gasped. "Really? Isn't that the town east of Compass City?"

"Yeah, about two miles. Past that mountain range. Why?"

"I _live_ in Compass City! We can see each other in person after the game! And you could meet my friends."

"Oh... really... well, you know that Eversun doesn't live up to its name. It's winter eleven months a year, while spring and autumn have to share half of a month, and summer doesn't get a chance to come out. This is like, borderline _scalding_ for me."

"Soooo... you're still making my point."

"Which is?"

"That if you're wearing less in the water, it's _not_ handicapping you! And that I am, in fact, the best _natural_ swimmer."

"I thought your point was that I'm the kind of girl who gets naked randomly and so I would be used to wearing something like this? And I told you that I'm not. Izzy is. But I'm not."

"Okay, okay, but none of that really _matters_- OW!"

She flinched, turning to the side to see that Lindsay had hit her shoulder. Rubbing the sore spot, she cast her blonde teammate a glare before continuing her swim away from her.

"Hi Courtney!" Beth said, not too far from her, "Listen, I-"

"Shut up."

Further ahead of her and Bridgette was Ezekiel, crying out "YO YO YO!" at seeing Sadie make it back to the shore. "Making almost a complete 180 in the competition, Sadie! Now _you_ get to hop on the forklift with none other than _Justin_ in it!"

She cheered and skipped in the direction of the rows of vehicles, Katie stopping her swim to turn and look at her. The thinner of the faux-twins shivered and shed a tear as she looked down at the confining mermaid tail she was in, only being distracted once Eva passed her.

"We'll talk later." She said quietly. "Just not now."

It did not take too long before Eva's legs were tripping over the dress as she ran to the fifth (Courtney, Bridgette, and Izzy's placements not changing) forklift instead of getting tangled as when she was swimming to the shore. Firmly seating herself in and the intern visibly nervous, she cried out to the general direction of the prairies: "I **WILL** CATCH UP TO YOU! MOCK MY WORDS!"

"Placing sixth in the rock-touching," Ezekiel continued, "Lindsay!"

It did not take long before the girl in th flame-resembling outfit went past Beth. She slowed down when her teammate begen talking.

"Why did you hit Courtney?"

Lindsay gave a heavy sigh in response. "Because, Beth, I'm trying to show you that Courtney is mean too, and that you shouldn't pick her side! I'm showing that if she knows I hate her, she thinks you hate her. See, that means her ego is big."

"No, that means I'm associated with a bad person!"

"Yeah, exactly, and her name was Courtney."

"No," she said as she too tagged the rock, "Her name is Lindsay!"

Lindsay paused for a brief moment, looking ahead to see by this point that their only competition was Katie, who while she was getting the hang of her outfit, still wasn't that big of a deal. She turned to Beth and laughed.

"Oh gosh, they say _I'm_ the one that's bad with names! No, _my_ name is Lindsay, and her name is Courtney."

Now it was Beth's turn to pause.

"No, I mean you. You're kinda becoming a jerk now Lindsay."

After giving her a glance, Lindsay turned her nose up. "You'll see later. Trust me."

* * *

><p>Bridgette shuffled around, hugging the bottom of the lift. "When did you become so harsh to Beth back there? I thought you became friends."<p>

"Are Beth and Lindsay out of earshot yet?" Courtney asked, trying to gain her ballance while standing on the forklift.

"Almost garunteed."

"Good. Then I can tell you. That over the last three days, I found out my _entire_ team is full of idiots conspiring against me! I think Gwen picked us to spite me. Yeah, that's what it is! That undeserving 'leader' can spite me long after she got rightfully kicked off!"

"Woah." Bridgette answered. "I _think_ you have some trust issues."

"Like you're any better! I know what you think about Izzy! Why don't you _ever_ live up to what you say and give _her_ a chance and do that fancy trust-shmust?"

"Because- WOAH." She was cut off when the forklift came to an abrupt stop, tossing her off. She got up, looking around to see that Courtney was already standing straight up and fixating her glance on Sadie, who at this point had scaled over half of the wall. The CIT herself leaped up and clung to a step high enough that her feet were at Bridgette's full height, before Bridgette could continue. "Because I sort of liked Izzy at first, then I found out that she is a little... weird."

"And Lindsay and Beth are idiots!"

She sneered at Sadie's incredible progress, then turned down to stare at her own weights. Finally, she looked back at Bridgette. "Why am I even listening to you? You and that... winged _cheater_ aren't on the same team!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: Okay, maybe I just need _someone_ to talk to, and with Katie, Sadie, and Eva getting more secluded to Eva and less talkative to... anybody else, and Izzy's conspiracy theories, my options are dwindling down!

Sadie: Eva's gonna be proud of me, right? Proud? And that's what I like to get... a chance to... oh no, I haven't spoken to Katie since- _AAAAH! I don't remember!_ I hope it was earlier today! Was it? Oh my gosh, is she mad at me? Wait, no, what if _Eva's_ mad at me too- but she wouldn't be, because I did so good, but the mixed signals and- I... _AAAAAGHH!_ This is so confusing!

* * *

><p>"GREAT WORK SADIE!" Eva shouted upon her arrival at the sole teammate who had made it to the top. "Now be more unexpected! Use the outfit to your advantage!"<p>

"My outfit is still really painfully tight!" She cried. "And I don't trust the helmet!"

Eva facepalmed, beginning her own climb and fighting with her dress to get her feet in the holes. After trying to get a right foot in one in particular and dealing with it slipping out three times, she decided to ditch using her feet alltogether and dropped them straight down, relying completely on her upper half to pull herself up. "I mean the wings! Try to use them again! Can you at least glide with them?"

She peered over the ledge, her breathing pace beginning to quicken. The grass normally looked soft and welcoming, but at that height it could be geletin or a pile of pillows and it would still be no different from spikes. Because falling in them would seem fatal. While the front had nothing but the woods in the distance, Sadie turned around to the back and in the direction to the lake, where Katie could barely be seen hopelessly thrashing around in the water, and two small figures that seemed to be Lindsay and Beth running over to their forklifts. She then looked straight down, noticing one of Courtney's hands only inches away from her. Eva glared upwards, though Sadie couldn't tell if it was directed at her, Courtney, or even Bridgette. Taking a deep breath in, she heard cackling laughter as Izzy had finally begun her own ascent.

"You're lucky I'm a good enough player to want to win, Eva!" The blindfolded camper cried, "'Cuz otherwise I would tail your slow butt and watch you throughout the entire race! But hey, _now_ you get a chance to plot your little scheme with Katie and Sadie..."

Sadie closed her eyes and jumped, frantically flailing her arms around.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Justin: It has come to my attention-  
>*Knocking is heard on the side, followed by Ezekiel's voice from outside.*<br>Ezekiel: Dude! I told you, I should say this!  
>Justin: -It has come to <em>my<em> attention but Ezekiel would like to announce, that you should not try what Sadie just did at home. Any old pair of cardboard wings will not support flight, and the only reason why her's worked is because the producers of that show went all-out to save on the costs of constantly using special effects to make it look like Wingy's flying. We happened to buy their outfit using the money Ezekiel made from EMDHS's host-your-own-show challenge, because for those that don't know, SKLT has been cancelled for two years.  
>*Leans up closer to the camera.*<br>Justin: I'm going to let Ezekiel in now and repeat what I just said to shut him up, but remember, you're seeing my version because _I'm_ the one who edits this. It's his fault, really, he doesn't want to sort through "The emotion," meaning that I can do stuff like this:

Ezekiel: *Raises a finger and takes a deep breath in before the camera cuts to static.*

* * *

><p>Sadie got part of what she expected when she opened her eyes. She was falling, and quickly going in a certain direction.<p>

But what she didn't expect was that the direction she was moving the fastest wasn't _down_.

She screamed at first, turning her arms from the spread-out point they were at before to a more skyward-facing tilt, briefly dragging her up. Courtney peeked over the ledge of the wall, shouted, and punched part of the wall, which definitely went ignored by the contestant in the air.

Quickly figuring out the controls, Sadie began turning her arms to dive and rise back up, managing to do several figure eights before finally landing feet-first on Justin's forklift.

"I CAN FLY!" She cried.

As the co-host raised the forks of his truck, his passenger turned to him and asked, "Can I keep this outfit for the rest of the day?"

"Why?" He said as he drove off.

Unexpected to him, Sadie turned over to the cliff. He immediately knew what she was thinking. "Oh, I just want to try a little something."

"Maybe. I'd have to talk it out with Ezekiel."

"Speaking of Ezekiel, where is he?"

"Well... back at the lake."

* * *

><p>"You see," Ezekiel said, "I was supposed to be with whoever places last, so that Justin can be with whoever places first and we'll have our top guys judging the rules. Buuuuut you're taking a little too long so I'm just gonna go off and skip straight to the caves. But naturally, I'd like to pass everybody on my way. Get an estimate of how long I'd have to wait before I get my first camper."<p>

Katie _finally_ tagged the rock, the host barely in ear-shot.

"You still have an intern, though," He turned to the last remaining forklift, "Miss... um... Joan right?"

"Jean," She said, pushing up her square glasses.

"Jean! Yeah, um, if there's any ambiguity in the rules, just message her and she'll message me. But I don't think you'll find any rule troubles by yourself so..."

He jumped on the top of the bright red tractor and sped off to the west.

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

"Oh, Ezekiel, thank _goodness_ you're here." Courtney said, now half way down. "Because I want to tell you to your face that this challenge is clearly broken."

Ezekiel laughed. "How so?"

"You gave some of them _advantages_ in their costumes! Sadie glided around like an idiot, which meant that she avoided having to climb down, and I looked to see that Izzy was stabbing her knives _into_ the wood, making a bunch of footholes for herself and thus bypassing the need to search for them herself!"

"Yeah, um... here's the thing." He said, Izzy now doing exactly as Courtney said- just upside-down and going to the grass, "I never said you can't use the outfits for advantages. I didn't even really say they came with _dis_advantages, but I did give you an overview for every outfit so that you could come up with which one you wanted to take. I was even being fair to you guys! Since these are all pop culture based, you'd be at a disadvantage of not knowing what the costumes are like because none of you are really nerds! Well, okay, except Beth."

"How come my costume doesn't have any upsides?"

"One: It's Chris's costume. What do you think? Just be glad I didn't force you into one of his wigs. Two: Who says it doesn't? Three: But who says it _has to_ eh? Maybe having one of the smallest disadvantages is an advantage in of itself! And speaking of which, _hello Bridgette_-"

He did not expect her to turn to him and smirk, before turning back to the wall and resume her climbing, if slipping from the footholds several times. Ezekiel scratched his head.

"It doesn't feel like I have any advantages." Courtney continued.

"Well maybe that's just 'cuz you're really moody! Oh, and speaking of which, you do know that Lindsay and Beth just passed you, right?"

The blonde and brunette former-pair both dropped from the rather long distances they had left, with Lindsay falling over in shock while Beth akwardly ran and dove to the forklift.

Meanwhile, on the wall, Izzy sniffed the air.

"Hey..." She said, "I heard somebody hit the ground... cool! Now that I know how far it is, I can just..."

With one swift motion, she unstuck all four (she decided to just keep the forehead one for show) of the knives from the board and plopped down. She laughed.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: I know the blindfold's a little see-through, but I found from this that if I close my eyes, my other senses suddenly get a lot better. I might not be able to see all kinds of colors anymore, but I can still figure out almost everything around me - and even a little more!

* * *

><p>Ezekiel flexed his hands. "Welp," He said, almost sleepily, "With Lindsay and Beth's victory that's the first time a camper didn't get the same place on the wall as they did on the lake, and that's my visit to the wall. I'm just gonna make a stop to the log roll before going up to the caves, ya' know. After all, we now have four-"<p>

Courtney jumped off, her following control of her legs hindered by the weights.

"-Five campers either headin' to the woods or at the woods, things are gonna get more interesting over there."

He took off again, Courtney's lift-boarding and Eva's reaching the other side following.

Eva rested on the top, looking at her legs while Bridgette weakly brushed a head against the upper part of the wall. "So," the latter said, "Courtney's gone. I guess it's just us then. Now I can ask-"

"Actually it's just you. I haven't worked out my lower body enough, so..."

She turned over and fell off of the plank, diving her feet into the ground and her impact digging out a tiny pit. She turned to the second to last vehicle currently in the area and whistled for it.

* * *

><p>"I got it!" Beth snapped her fingers, "Sadie!"<p>

"Wh-wha?" Lindsay said, turning away from the nearing forest and to Beth's direction.

"I know she's on a different team, but she - and maybe even Justin! - can solve our little issues with Courtney. Or at least give you another side to think about! You like Justin, right?"

"Well, I do, but... I don't think he's into me."

They were shoved off once more when their forklifts came to grinding halts, both of them landing on their faces. Looking up, they saw their respective intern-drivers getting out stop watches.

Beth gasped. "Oh no, Sadie's gone!"

"So? We can meet up with her at the final challenge."

"No, if she's done with this, then she's on the final challenge, which is a race down a cave! And if Courtney wasn't lying and she's crazy enough to fly, then she's crazy enough to go down there by herself! She might even be at the guilded Zeke already!"

"Wow, really?" Ezekiel asked while Izzy was dropped off, Courtney shortly following. Lindsay ran to one of the logs, Beth akwardly hopping to another. The last member of the Killer Jackrabbits clumsily fell into the marsh instead. "In that case, I better get to the caves!"

He took off again as Lindsay began running.

"Well well well, hello there _Courtney_." She beamed. Izzy dashed to her log, starting to run at a faster speed while her intern fumbled around for a stop watch. "Nice to finally see you."

"Ugh!" Beth cried, falling into the pond and trudging to get to her log, "You don't see why it's bad that Sadie's up there or down there or... huh. I don't know how deep that cave is-"

"Time!" Lindsay's intern called. Courtney, at this point, lifted herself from the water and rolled onto her own obstacle. Beth continued while she tried to stand, eyes completely focused on the chunk of wood.

"-Bottom line! The longer it takes for us to meet up, the longer you will villainize Courtney and the more we will be torn apart!"

She looked up, hearing Izzy's intern crying "Time! I... think!" and looking around until her vision locked on Lindsay. Who, attracting an angry look at a still-boarding Courtney, was still staying in the forest.

"Alright. I'll stop picking on Courtney until we meet with Sadie."

The blonde saw that the CIT they were talking about was about to open her mouth, and cut her off. "But! In the meantime, _you_ can't mock _me_ for doing stuff that wouldn't make our team win! Do that and the deal is off! Come on, relax a little, I mean, Katie is still probably-"

"Lindsay, you're kind of insulting her again."

She huffed, following her intern back to one of the forklifts.

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"Joan!"

The last intern by the lake was tossed awake by Katie's cry. Fumbling around a little, she looked to see the camper finally dragging a gripped hand onto the shore.

"It's Jean- you're- ...how long was I asleep?"

Katie continued clawing to the sand - then the dirt - until she was on the forklift. She briefly embrased the cold metal, shivering a bit, before getting lifted in the air. "Not long. Take me to the wall. I'm about to redeem myself."

"Ha!" Jean laughed, driving off. "Did you see yourself in the past... half an hour?"

"Well you are mean."

"If you think I am then you should be glad that Ezekiel is going to rotate me out by the end of the day! And there's like a one-in-nine chance he'll pick me for a challenge again. He has a lot of interns, and I'm just another one of them."

"And I'm thankful for that!" She giggled, "Also, you have a tacky sense of fashion. Seriously? Plain white clothes with that weird green worm thing?"

* * *

><p>"Yeah, sorry Sadie," Ezekiel said, "I may be here now, but you're still going down alone unless you wanna wait for one of your teammates."<p>

"B-but... don't you want to see if the person who grabbed the statue grabbed it _honestly_?"

Ezekiel laughed. "We have a ton of cameras down there! And on the slides! We can see practically anything!"

Sadie peered down into the open, rectangular entrance in the darkness.

"Of course, these cameras are hidden and all of their lights are covered so that you'll mostly be sliding down in the dark, aside from a faint few dimly lit bulbs so that you won't fall into pits of gunky cave water and stuff. Just to warn you though: Some of them might be burnt out. Caring for them is mostly intern duty, and many of those guys tend to be really... well, they do it for free, and you get what you paid for I guess."

"Oh no... but there's no lava or anything, right?"

Ezekiel swatted a hand across the air in front of him. "Pshh, as if! These tunnels don't come even _close_ to being that deep! It would be cool, though, if I could find some way to get us near lava - not too near, of course! I'm not like Chri-"

"HEY I THINK I HEAR ANOTHER FORKLIFT!" Sadie cried, running outside.

Ezekiel turned to Justin, who had proped himself against the wall with his arms crossed, with a smile on his face.

"Yo Justin."

"Yes?"

"You think I should go down that slide anyway, just to tick Sadie off? And it'll tick her off because I'm going while she isn't here?"

"To tell you the truth... I would go down myself if I wasn't so afraid of getting anything bruised."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Sadie: I don't know what overcame me! I guess flying suddenly gave me claustrophobia? Like, I liked it when I flew, because I felt like I was in control, and everything was bright, and I knew what was around! But down, there, it's dark and I don't know what to look out for - well, okay, there's no lava - and I feel like if I fly, I'm just going to hit my head and fall back down and... Oh, I wish Katie was with me!

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Sadie asked, looking down the cliff side and towards the oncoming ride. "Wh-which team are you on, again?"<p>

"SCREAMING BUFFALO!" Izzy's booming voiced sounded up the chunk of land, "And aren't you supposed to be down there and not up here?"

It was not long before her ride stopped, the passenger jumping off and sniffing the air.

"What's the problem Sadie? Can't find the cave? 'Cuz I can! It's right around here..."

"No, I can find it, it's just that... well, I'm too scared to go there without Katie."

Izzy stopped. Three more vehicles were heard behind the pair.

The game's sole readhead burst into laughter. "Really? You could have won by now, but you're too _scared_ to compete in _Total Zeksmit Plains?_"

"Y-y-yes!" She sputtered,"Because this is the first time we have to do anything like _this!_ If I knew I had Katie with me, then fine, but without her I..."

"Oh hey look," Now Beth's voice was behind them, "It's her."

Lindsay grunted. "Does this mean I can continue trash-talking Courtney?"

"No, it means you're supposed to stop, and Sadie is supposed to help me tell you why."

The entirety of the Killer Jackrabbits had lined up, all moving towards the direction of the flag clearly sticking out from around the side. Sadie followed in a run.

"WOW!" Lindsay cried, "This trail is narrow! Is that why you didn't go into the cave?"

Behind her was Beth, then Courtney, then finally Sadie. Izzy decided to take a different approach, stabbing her knives into the softer parts of the cliff's underbelly and crawling around the ledges.

"I uh... was too scared to go in there alone."

"Well, hopefully our little fight - which Beth really wants to be one-sided - will keep you company."

"Beth?" Asked Sadie, "Can you explain?"

She sighed, still hugging the wall as she and the rest made their way to the opening. "Last episode Courtney promised that she would convince me and Lindsay to vote for herself but because Courtney didn't want to vote for herself because that would mean automatic elimination no matter what and that sounded too final for her she voted for Lindsay anyway especially after hearing that she and I were going to disobey her and now Lindsay thinks she's a traitor but since Courtney was one of the few campers who actually looked out for me and Lindsay's acting too mean to her I'm starting to side with Courtney and now Lindsay hates both of us."

"Oh. Well in that case, why don't you and Courtney both vote for Lindsay the next time you lose? I mean, when that happens, one of you _has_ to go anyway."

All three members of Sadie's opposing team gasped.

"Wow. Harsh much?" Beth said. "You would be convincing her that we really _are_ terrible people!"

Lindsay finally found a thicker portion of land to stand on, and manuvered into the cave's entrance. She then propped herself against one of the walls and crossed her arms, staring in the direction of the other three contestants.

"Okay, okay, another idea... um... Lindsay, try to think of the good times between you and Beth!"

The blonde finally smiled. "Well, okay... but..."

"Alright!" Beth cheered as she too stepped out of the ledge-portion and into the beginning of the slide. "Now we're going somewhere!"

Meanwhile, Izzy still clung to the outer wall of the hill, rolling her head around. She stopped the rolling just before she spoke.

"Am I facing up, or _down_? Hm... I can't tell any more. Should I open my eyes? Nah. I got a cooler way of telling."

She spat, moving her head back when it fell back on her.

"Definitely up."

She tensed up when she heard the rock above her cracking.

"Ooh boy."

* * *

><p>Eva turned back to the shrinking image of the rest of Zekitunakwa below as she scaled the cliffs, noticing that the sole forklift by the woods was beginning to take off.<p>

"Okay, okay..." She mumbled to herself, "She's doing good..."

* * *

><p>"Ugh!" Katie cried, "The lake got this tail all sticky- wait a minute..."<p>

Looking the wall up and down, she swung from her rather low height and turned herself so that the tail of her costume stuck to the side. Giggling, she began rolling rapidly, propelling herself up the climbing area, over the top, and into a smooth run back down. Reaching the grass, she brushed off just a little and turned over to the intern.

"Intern girl! I'm ready to go to the woods!"

* * *

><p>"Come on Sadie," Lindsay said, "I thought you did this before!"<p>

"I did," She shuffled into view, "But between the wings and my size, I have a lot of trouble."

"Can't you fly inside?"

"I'm too scared! What if I crash into the ceiling?" She blinked. "Um, don't tell Eva I said that. Or that I was too scared to go down alone, for that matter. Or that I'm working with the other team!"

"Okay, well why don't we make a deal?"

"A deal?" Beth interrupted. "Woah woah woah, are you thinking about blackmailing her?"

Lindsay sighed, "Okay, maybe, but-"

"Come on Lindsay, she came this close to being one of us! Like, we almost thought about Katie and us doing eachother's nails and... getting into... just what made you smile?"

"Well," Lindsay said as Sadie finally stepped into the chamber, rounding off the small group. "Mostly the fact that you helped me get used to this place and made it feel more like home. And how I remembered how nice you were to me..."

"And Courtney too!"

"Yeah, but why?"

"Uh... Sadie, can you come up with anything?"

"...Not really, no."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Sadie: Oh boy... pressure's back on me... and I was _still_ by myself...

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Sadie said after her own pause, "Lindsay, what did you want me to do?"<p>

"Oh, I wanted to see if you would like to act as a ride for us. That we could ride on you on the way down. I mean, this costume is already killing my butt, I do _not_ want a slide to scrape it off or anything. Think of it as a..."

"A truce?" Sadie finished, "Sure! But in a friend kind of way. Because I don't like the lonelyness and you don't like the sliding."

Beth stepped between them. "But our confli-"

"You asked the wrong person! Sorry! Wait for Bridgette or something!"

After saying this, as though she was going against her own word, she dove on her stomach and found Lindsay quickly sitting around her neck, giggling.

"Come on girls! The other team can catch up at any second!"

Beth and Courtney followed, both with reluctance and that trait more visible in the first than the second.

After the three members of the Killer Jackrabbits boarded on their one rival, said rival kicked off into the darkness.

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Eva heard Izzy's voice beneath her as she continued making her way around the narrow rock trail, "Can somebody help me? I tried climbing, but then I felt the rocks shake a little? Like, if I move or speak or anything, this part will break off? I don't feel so safe anymore."<p>

Eva took a deep breath in, holding it while Izzy sniffed above her.

"Is someone there? Scaredy cat Sadie? Sore-loser Lindsay? Between-rock-and-hard-place Beth? Roller-coaster of coolness Courtney?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: First I only had one reason to not let her know I was there. So that I could have more time, and have a better chance at getting the win by myself. But her ramblings gave me another reason. _Scaredy cat Sadie._ I don't know what that means, but something's up. So I decided to ask her. Knowing that the girl conspires against me twenty-four seven, she'd love to think that she's ruining my plans by telling me that Sadie isn't the tough military girl I thought I was training up. Yet.  
>Eva: Izzy knows nothing. And the key word for Sadie is <em>yet.<em>

* * *

><p>Eva flinched when she felt a small part of the dress - no bigger than a palm - ripped from her. Thanks to those knives. Those <em>stupid, stupid knives.<em> Somehow, by this point in the summer season she was able to predict that, yes, Izzy would sniff the fragment next.

"Okay, either I miscalculated and ripped off part of the flag, or somebody _is_ above me." More sniffs. "And based on all the sweat... Eva! Don't make me open my eyes!"

She hurried her way, hearing the footsteps of another arrival behind her after she made it to the entrance. Eva payed more attention to the exchange outside than the fact that Ezekiel and Justin were both staring down the slide, clearly trying to hold back laughter.

"Oh my gosh, Izzy?" Bridgette cried, looking over the ledge. "What happened?"

"Well, you know, I tried climbing around on the side of the mountain, I ended up upside-down twice, then I dug into soft soil and I'm afraid that the rock I'm on will break off. Then I got out! But... after that I heard a bug a tried to chase it, then I got stuck here again. Can you give me a hand?"

She shrugged, leaning over before quickly retracting.

"You're not going to stab me, are you?"

"Nah. I only stab backstabbers."

She stuck her hand back out again, carefully dodging Izzy's own arm sticking up until she spoke again.

"Um, Bridgette, _you're_ gonna have to grab _me_. I don't know where your arm is."

She did just that, and after some struggle and a brief moment of worry when the rocks started slipping, she got Izzy up to her level and they darted off into the final challenge location.

The pair saw none other than Eva, rushing shoulder-first into a random rock sticking by the side.

"Okay, Bridgette, I'm gonna have to tell you something."

"What?"

"I opened my eyes when you 'saved' me, and I totally saw your boobs."

"Oh yeah, about that," Ezekiel broke in, surprisingly keeping his gaze fixed on whatever Eva was doing, "Why do you care more about Izzy seeing you than me or Justin?"

"Why do you mind seeing me naked but not the other girls?"

The rock Eva was ramming into broke and fell foreward with a loud crash, but before that happened was more than enough time for Ezekiel to at least begin an answer. Eva practically saved him from saying anything, if not by her intent at all.

"Bridgette." She turned to the camper she called by name, flatly. "You're here. Perfect. You're a surfer, aren't you?"

"Yes, but what does that-"

"Then you can ride this like a board with us on, can you? It should be long enough for three people-"

"What about four?"

The three campers and two show staff turned to the source of the voice, finding Katie 'standing' by the entrance. She still seemed wet, probably from the forest's pond, and had bits of sand, grass, wood, and oddly metal sticking to the costume. She definitely had a look of exhaustion to her face, and to show this even more, she collapsed shortly after leaning against a wall of the cavern.

"How did you get here?" Eva asked. "Weren't you dead last?"

"Well... that was the first challenge. After that they're not that long and it gets easy to catch up. All I had to do was get this to stick to the wall, and after that I hopped in place on a log while it spinned for ten seconds. Ten seconds isn't a long time."

Izzy's tongue darted out. "Mmmm... how did you get that metal stuck to your costume? It mixes with that watery and misty taste from the lake, and it's a good mix. They should sell candy bars of that flavor!"

"Oh, that reminds me of Joan- no, Jean! You see, the metal was because the water made this stick to that forklift. After I got here and before I used the stickyness to roll along the side of the mountain, I had a little talk with her."

Justin and Ezekiel looked at eachother.

"When we air this episode, should we show the clip?" Ezekiel asked. "It is your call, after all."

"That depends on what happened."

"You should!" Katie cried, crawling over to the chunk Eva broke off, "I think it's inspirational to interns everywhere!"

"Well!" Justin remarked, "Maybe I should! Who knows, maybe we can inspire a lowly little intern! Who decides to watch this episode!"

* * *

><p><em>Katie huffed, using her hands to push herself off of the cold metalic ride and plopping into the grass.<em>

_"So Jean," She said, "I guess this is goodbye?"_

_"As if this was anything special! Jeez!"_

_"So... yes?"_

_"Yeah, you might have a weird sports-movie bond with me, but I'm still kind of not attatched to you in any way at all? I mean, even if I was, Ezekiel said that interns aren't supposed to be bias towards any competetor-"_

_Katie gasped. "That Ezekiel! You should start something against him! Like a rebellion! Turn the show around!"_

_Jean shrugged. "Why? I like the show the way it is."_

_"Well I don't! And I know that, somewhere out there, there's at least one intern that agrees with me! Someone who actually looks at the campers and thinks like them! And he or she could convince you and the other interns otherwise-"_

_"Probably a she. Ezekiel has almost all girl interns."_

_"Oh, I'm sorry."_

_"Don't. I was never into romance anyway."_

_"...Anyway. She could convince you and the other interns otherwise, and they could give complaints and remodel the show to be better!"_

_"Better than... what exactly?"_

_"That depends on the intern!"_

* * *

><p>"Okay," Izzy said, "So Bridgette's in front of me because she's the lead. Who's behind me? Eva?"<p>

"No, it's me." Katie said. "I need you and Eva on my sides to give me support, and Eva has to-"

The aformentioned contestant violently kicked at the ground behind, shoving them off into the depts as well. The last words Ezekiel and Justin heard from them before they dissapeared were Katie finishing, "-KICK-START OUR RIIIIIDE!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits, and Sadie)<strong>

"Are you okay?" Beth asked.

Sadie's reply started with a nervous giggle. "Yes, right now I am!" She gave a thumbs-up.

"That's great!" Lindsay added, "But to everyone else, is anyone getting motion sick? I am... so I think that if I am getting sick, maybe... I don't know, you have to watch out for yourselves more?"

Beth sighed. "There you go again! _I am, I am, I am, I am!_ Urgh!"

"Wait, Beth," Courtney said, "I think I should-"

"No! Courtney, you were right to treat me like crap when I considered myself Lindsay's friend, because she is!"

The Chris cosplayer tried to regain balance on the back of the Screaming Buffalo below them before she continued. "But Beth!"

"Nope." The group of four all slid down a narrower part of the trail in the more open darkness, hanging several meters above a pit of cool, if dirtied, cave water. "Courtney, I hope you still consider me your friend, 'cuz I'm off with Lindsay. I'm giving up. In fact, I don't want to be anywhere near her! Sadie was right."

She dove off. Lindsay and Courtney could only stare as an increasingly distant splash sound followed.

"Um..." Courtney stuttered, "I can fix this!"

Lindsay scoffed. "Yeah right, like you can fix any-"

She stopped herself to find that her final teammate had gone too, a splash following. The blonde looked ahead, as the remaining camper pair slid went back into a familiar, box-like tunnel shape with an inclosed setting. Then her gaze went to Sadie.

"Okay... now that we're alone, I can totally control you to fly for me, right? I'm sorry, but we are on different teams and all."

Sadie giggled. "We may, but good luck trying to control this-!"

She shifted her front up, making the pair hop off about halfway up the tunnel's height. After the jump and a cry from the blonde, Lindsay clung onto the only other camper nearby.

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"Faster!" Eva cried.

"Deal with it Eva!" Izzy yelled behind herself. "We can only go faster with more weight, and that weight has to come from Sadie! She's probably not too far from us!"

"And why's that?"

She snickered before she spoke, "Because I overheard Sadie telling the other team that she's too scared to go into the cave by herself! So she _joined them_."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: Pfft... _that_ will shake up her alliance. And when she realizes that her "tight buddies" aren't so tight, she'll kick them out of her evil hands! So that then we can all band together and vote her off! Crisis averted before anybody but _me_ knew that it was even there!

Eva: I know that laugh. Izzy thinks she has the upper hand on me. Weeeeell... she's only digging her grave. Because with someone around to point out what's broken when I'm not around, I can work on _fixing_ what's broken. I'll just need to act like she's bettering me and that I really am ticked at Katie for being such a let-down, and Sadie for showing what a coward she is under that I-thought-tough exterior. *Deep breath.* That part should be easy. Because I _am_ ticked.

* * *

><p>"REALLY?" Eva cried to the blinded contestant, before turning to the one in the mermaid dress. "Katie, we're breaking away from them. We need to talk."<p>

"B-b-b-but, I thought it was safer to slide on a rock like-"

With one jab of a foot, even one burried under a dress of clashing colors, the team's ride was split in two. Ripping off another chunk of rock from the wall of the tunnel and using it as a pseudo-oar, Eva then continued guiding her ride past the other half of the Screaming Buffalo's campers.

Bridgette glanced ahead of her and sighed, her last remaning ally giving her a look of mild hope.

"So, uh... are you convinced Eva's planning something _bad_?"

"Competing in a competetive game isn't bad, I still believe in that, but I have the feeling that she's beginning to boss Katie and Sadie around."

"I know, right! Eva's totally messing with them! So..." She lowered her voice, "Does this mean that you're willing to team up with me to take her down?"

"...Well... I'll think about it."

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

Courtney began to talk immediately after emerging from the water.

"Are you insane, Beth?" She asked, "You had a precent decent- okay, if a little shakey- friendship! Why did you suddenly throw it away?"

Courtney's teammate had used the large shoe to keep herself afloat in the water, lying on her back and aimlessly trying to paddle to the nearest edge. "As long as we're still friends, I'm fine. You're the only one left that I think really cares about me!"

"Well... I... do, if you put it that way, but I also thought you and Lindsay were almost inseperable!"

"Oh please." Beth waved a hand in dismissal, "Any friend of mine who mocks another friend of mine isn't really a friend of mine. Wait. Did that make sense?"

By this point, Courtney began climbing out of the water and back into the tunnel. "It did, but mock my words if you don't make things up to her, _I_ will do it _for_ you."

"Hmph! Sorry Courtney, but I think you're making a mistake!"

Courtney hesitated in her climb, before jabbing another hand up. "You'll see, Beth. You'll see."

Two more hand raises, before Courtney froze with a smile.

"Wait a minute." She said. "We're friends again?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"YO SADIE!" were Eva's words once Lindsay and the girl she just called intered her range of view, "WE NEED TO TALK!"

"And me, right?" Katie stuttered, "You- you did say that we were gonna talk too, but you didn't say anything becides 'wait until we meet up with Sadie.'"

"Yeah, and we've met, and here's the news. You see, Katie... you're off the alliance."

All of the contestants present gasped, except for the one who just spoke.

"Alliance?" Lindsay asked.

"Sorry, Katie, but I think that all of my ease-ups have made Sadie gone a little soft. And as you can tell from today, she's my better player between you guys."

"Again, _alliance?_" Lindsay said with a higher volume.

"She needs a little _kick_ to get ahead in the game. My foot's just not on her. _This time._"

Making out the very chamber at the end of the tunnel, Eva dug the rock-paddle into the ground and shifted it foreward with great force, accellerating her ride to such a degree that Katie was thrown off and tumbled the short remainder of the slide down.

Eva made a leap at the tail end and grinded her pseudo-board against the wall of the cave chambers, searching until she found a faint shine of gold from a rather large stalactite at the center of this new and level room. Sadie exited next, flying around the zone with the blonde from the opposite team still clinging onto her back.

"SADIE!" Eva cried. Katie rolled into the room and fell a few feet between the slide and the ground of the final area. "DITCH LINDSAY AND HEAD STRAIGHT FOR THE GUILDED ZEKE!"

"But-but we had a deal!"

"DO YOU WANT TO END UP LIKE KATIE OVER THERE?"

Said camper coughed out dust, struggling to push herself off the stone and looking up at her ex-alliance-leader with watery, reddened eyes.

"Maybe I do!" Sadie said, "She is... she's my friend and everything-"

She cut herself off when a snap echoed through. The source came from Lindsay, who spoke after unintentionally interrupting the Buffalo. "The boomhauerangs! That's how I can get the golden Zelda peice!"

The snap, by the way, was her once again detatching the orange objects from her shoulders. With a dual-fling, they were sent flying through the cave's darkness and landed square on the final prize. She smiled in delight as it budged.

"No!" Sadie shouted, spinning herself in a circle to shake off her rider. No such luck. Lindsay clang onto the lacrosse shirt with nothing but one hand and a grin, using the other hand to snatch the boomerangs she got back.

Another double toss. Sadie's flight pattern got more frantic and random, so much that Katie and Eva were more fixed on that than Bridgette and Izzy sliding into the room.

"We will not lose three times in a row!" Lindsay cried as she re-collected her weapons for the second time.

All Sadie could do at this point was slow down her flight to take a better look at any of her teammates below her. Bridgette and Izzy looked too confused, so they were out. Katie... Katie was lying back down, seemingly starting to weep. That only left Eva, the likely cause of the weeping, who mouthed to her "Reach at the idol!"

She gave a slow and uncertain nod to her last ally's offer, as all of the below campers noticed Lindsay beginning to take aim again. Gritting her teeth, Sadie dove down with a sudden turn and flew back up, sticking her hand out as she reached for the cave's ceiling and-

The guilded Zeke briefly dissapeared behind her vision, followed by the sound of some rocks cracking. She turned and-

Realized her miscalculation, and the result of it.

Frowning, Sadie flew back to the ground and let Lindsay happily hop off, flipping around the golden statue that she swiped while Sadie was trying to do the same. Courtney and Beth rode in, finally rounding off the cast.

"WE WON!" Lindsay cheered, "WE FINALLY WON!"

Courtney was fairly quick to react for someone who had just entered the scene. "Ha! And you can't vote me off! And I don't have to be forced to vote anybody off! Looks like I have _two_ reasons to celebrate Lindsay being more competant than I thought now, Buffalo!"

After she clapped her hands over her mouth at that, all eight campers turned at the sound of clapping coming from a previously-unnoticed exit point, finding Ezekiel smiling. "Yo Courtney, celebrate now all you'd like, but I'm gonna have to remind you that no matter what, this game won't have the three of you still competing forever. Even if all of you make it to the semi-finals, one of you will have to lose there, and then the last two will be fighting tooth-and-nail against each other. So you might as well stop trying to protect your teammates. Because either way, things won't stay pretty."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's what you think. There's a big difference between playing competetively, and personal aggression. But I think that's hard for someone whose only faced the latter and was proably kicked out so fast he never had to deal with any real strategy in any way to understand."

"Really? You didn't think I got far in EMDHS? You know what, since you and your teammates have a garunteed stay for three more days anyway, I'll show you my performance eh! And anyone who survives the ceremony can join too! This night and the three afternoons before the next challenge, I'll show you all what Chris was really like three episodes at a time!"

"You will?" Beth chimed in. "I thought the entire reason why you picked us first was because you wanted people unfamiliar with Chris's show."

"Yeah, but since you're already in the game and know enough about me as a host, I thought, why not? Anyway, to answer the question you were all thinking, I came in here through an entrance from near the base of the cliff. Follow me down this passage to get out. Unless, of course, you wanna climb back up the slide."

The Killer Jackrabbits were all quick to join the host in leaving. As were Izzy and Bridgette. As one might imagine, the last three contestants in the room did it with less pacing, their costumes not entirely being the reason why.

Sadie's eyes did not leave the cave's floor as she went in Ezekiel's general direction. "So... I screwed up. Again. Does this mean I'm not in the alliance anymore either?"

"No," Eva replied flatly, "That was just a rookie mistake. I'm still infuriated about letting the other team use you as a bobsled-"

"I'm sorry!"

Eva crossed her arms and glared. She exhaled loudly before continuing. "-But I won't kick you off for that either. I would, however, be a little less tolerant about those kind of things. Think of it as a three strike system, and helping the other team that time was strike one. Three strikes, and you're on your own."

Sadie's gaze got even lower.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: ...*Sighs.* Okay, I was starting to feel... _sorry_ for her. Urgh! But it was because it was early in the game and she already... and becides, she's my best player right now! Well, until the merge comes, then she's going to be left trashed. So I wanted to do something I almost never do. Make an exchange with somebody, to make up for something else that ticked me off. Normally my "exchange" involves beating up who ticked me off, but this isn't the kind of game for that.  
>Eva: *Smirks.* But what this <em>is<em> the kind of game for is what the exchange ended up being! Which I thought was pretty nice. I mean, I don't want to admit it but there's a chance things with me and Katie could have gone ugly, and thanks to my quick thinking skills back there, that wasn't the case.

* * *

><p>"But I'll tell you what." Eva closed in on the teammate, looking to see Katie struggling to hop after Ezekiel and the rest. "I will erase the strike if Katie gets sent home tonight."<p>

"You want me to vote for my best female friend for life?" Sadie squeaked at a notably louder level.

"Well, I didn't say that. I said I wanted her gone. Buuuut Izzy's dead-set on voting me off and Katie isn't gonna vote for herself and she'll probably vote for me out of hate because of her little crashing back there and how I was the only one around, so even if I help you and you can convince Bridgette there's a very slim chance it's us in the tie-breaker but even if I lose and the strikes technically won't matter anymore you're still stuck here with almost nobody to help you except your disorganized friend and is that any way to get the fifty grand? So... yeah, you're gonna have to vote for her yourself to be sure."

Eva then ran off after the others, crying "WAIT UP FOR ME!" while Sadie could only stare in the direction and sudder. Finally she willed her way there, just to stop herself upon seeing Katie.

"I heard everything. Do you really like that creep more than me? Do you really trust her more than your own best friend that you had since you were, like, really little?"

"Um...-"

"Wrong answer. And I hope you see that. Because after treating me like dirt, I am going to prove Eva wrong somehow, some way, and you're going down next-"

"Woah woah woah!" Bridgette ran in, parting the pair. Her Geoff-shirt had notably now been closed up. "Katie, when did you get so fixed on this?"

"It's Eva!" She shouted, "Sh-she kicked me off of her little alliance, and now I'm really upset about it! And also, I fell off of the board we rode on- I think she did it on purpose! The girl is evil! I mean it, _evil!_"

Bridgette did not look convinced. "Have you been spending time with Izzy? Because you shouldn't listen to everything she says. _That_ girl is just... weird. I may have only said that because just now she ripped off her blindfold and stared at my chest because the challenge is over, and that's also why I ran here. That, and to tell you that the way out is kind of a maze and Justin's only waiting for a few minutes. After that, we'll have to deal with Ezekiel as our main guide out, and he's already boring us to death with stories about the cave's geography."

"I haven't done anything with Izzy! She is weird! But not as weird and evil as Eva! Sadie, you believe me, right?"

"Oh gosh, this question again-"

"_So you don't! Argh!_"

Katie made a quick motion foreward, but due to her mermaid costume all that accomplished was making her fall to the floor. She began thrashing afterwards, occasionally clawing at Sadie's feet and shouting "WHY ARE YOU NOW LEAVING ME?"

Sadie took a few steps back, and a few moments later it all stopped. Replacing the sounds of Katie trying to attack her friend was her own sobs, Katie's target ironically being the one who showed the biggest concern towards her. "Whyyyy?"

"Okay, no." Bridgette stepped in. "You're willing to harm Sadie over this? Not cool. I don't think someone as violent and tempremental as you should be on our team."

With that, the team captain walked off. Katie pushed herself up with her hands a beamed a glare in her direction.

"_Then vote off Eva..._" She whispered to the sea-walker with spite.

After spending a few moments staring at Katie and finding that she was made no further reaction at all to her, Sadie reluctantly turned to Eva for... anything, really. She got a dead smile in return.

"Remember, it's your choice tonight."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Sadie: I don't know! If I vote for Katie, then she'll hate me for the rest of my life and I'll have to try to go out and find a new best friend and everything will be ruined! But if I vote for Eva, then I'll have to keep playing the game _and_ put energy into trying to make amends with Katie all without Eva! Who might kill me after I'm voted off, which I can't avoid because Eva's the only reason I made it even _this_ far into the game! I know Katie and I always get into fights like this and I make it up eventually and... wait... I hope I can! *Hyperventalates.* Because you know what? I _like_ this new game setting! *Weakly smiles.* Yeah, and I don't really want to spend the game trying to make things up to Katie while knowing I'll just get voted off and she... hm... because I can just make it up to her when the game ends! It will be harder, but... um... well, if I can fly and win fifty thousand dollars, I can do almost anything! *Takes a few deep breaths, goes back to frowning.* That, and I don't want Eva killing me in my sleep.

Bridgette: *Sighs.* To be honest, I'm glad something like this happened. I'm nervous about my first elimination as a team member. Much more the captain, with all the expectancy to make the bigger choices. Back when there were way more options and Heather was one of them, it was easier, but now... Eva's a great player, I used to think Katie and Sadie were too sweet to go harsh on, and Izzy's... actually interesting... in the bad way but I hope I can change her for the better! Because in a way, she has more in common with me than every other remaining camper in the game! I mean, we both like nature in very different ways and that's almost where it ends, but it's... a start. More than what I can say about Lindsay, Eva, and now Katie at least... I thought it was a good enough start by the beginning of the game, but really, she _needs_ to change.

* * *

><p><strong>(Elimination Ceremony)<strong>

As per the norm, Justin walked towards Ezekiel's side carrying a plate of four marshmellows.

"Aw yeah, all good things must come to an end I guess." Ezekiel said, flashing his grin as he took his usual position. "And that includes the headstrong team of five known as the Screaming Buffalo. Kind of a bummer, you know? Just when I thought you _weren't_ the team full of fodder, BOOM...erangs to the finish and you came in last, yo! But really, the Killer Jackrabbits becoming a team of two would have been interesting. Eh, I guess next time we-"

"Can you get on with it?" Eva yelled.

"No need!" Sadie cried from the audience. "Take your time!"

Ezekiel laughed under his breath. "Yeah, I don't really know what happened between you and Katie yet, but something tells me that this is gonna make the ceremony interesting. Well, that and it's the first time you were here since the show began. In fact, maybe you need a little memory refresher? I'll say it anyway since I think you deserve it. Reach under the bleachers and tap the picture of whoever you want gone. It's that simple! The only difference is that we put the devices under the bleachers now, so they they won't get stolen by raccoons and stuff and so that we won't have to constantly cart them from the loser's place to here."

Four taps, a throat clearing from Eva, and a fifth tap from Sadie later, and Ezekiel had another printout to read.

"Alright!" He tossed the marshmallows as he got to each contestant's name, "No votes for Bridgette... Izzy also gets away voteless... Sadie, clean slate too... And two-to-three, our winner is...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Eva! Seriously, what happened in that race to make you guys think _Eva_ was sensible?" He chuckled. "I don't... I don't really understand, but whatever, you're the ones voting.

"So, Katie, any last words?"

Sadie shot up from the seats. "Y-Yeah Katie, before you speak I just want to let you know that I'm sorry for this and I hope we can make things up and-"

"Drop dead." Was all she said before leaving to get her luggage. What got the attention of everyone was that, instead of heading off to the cabins, she walked around the bleachers and got suitcases from behind that. Sadie in particular gasped.

"You mean you knew you were going home? You thought we would vote for you all along?"

"Yes. And I was _right_. I would say it shows how much we know eachother, but that would make people think that we're still friends."

None of Sadie's following tearful words made any difference in the way Katie huffed to the car and slammed the door shut. "B-but wait! I'll make it up to you! When I win the game, I'll split the money! How does 50-50 sound? 75-25? 85-15? 95-5? 100-0? _The first number is you!_"

"Oh, driver, wait!" Ezekiel cried, running up to the car and slipping into the back seat. "Yo! This was Bridgette's idea! She didn't like that I took a seperate drive over to the loser place until the next challenge, and she wanted me to carpool there. So, something new, I'm gonna end every ceremony from now on by riding with whoever's getting the boot! Oh, and uh Justin... you're in charge of showin' everybody EMDHS. Too bad I won't be able to make any commentary, but if I'm saving the environment it should be worth it, right?"

Katie pouted at Sadie's begging from behind the car's tinted window. "Are you going to ask me anything? Because I really don't want to be asked a bunch of questions right now."

"Nah, I don't like questions either." Ezekiel said as he closed the door himself. "Questions is more of an Aftermath sort of thing. And I don't really wanna get personal. I'm just gonna tell you a lot about my life and stuff on the way there. But before that, the stuff to the viewers."

The car sped off into the night, carrying its fourth victim while her closest friend could only weep.

"Wow." Izzy said. "A car ride with _Ezekiel_. Oh well. So Justin, he said you'll show us that show he was on now?"

"Yep." He smirked. "Come on and follow me."

Sadie continued crying even as the co-host lead Izzy and Eva over to the maze from the first challenge. She continued after Lindsay, Courtney, and Beth (each with increasing reluctance) joined in the line, and as the stars above caught her eyes. She got even worse when Justin ran back with the wings, dropping them next to her before his smile faded and he quietly backed away. She heard Bridgette taking a few steps becides her, and stood up.

"You know, when I flew for the first time, I thought about going even higher. The clouds. The atmosphere. To join everybody else who can fly. It really meant something to me, so much that I asked Justin if I could do that again one last time. But now... after being in that cave, I don't think I want to anymore. It was dark. I felt trapped. Um, okay, describing weird phobias from what I know makes them sound weirder, but I felt like I knew there were walls, I just never knew when I would hit them. Does that make sense?"

"It uh... does."

"And the night. It reminds me of the caves? Where it's mostly dark and I can't really tell where the ground is. And now, with Katie gone, there's another problem. That I'm all alone. It's kind of like my chance at fame."

"How?"

"Well, if I want to go up high, I'll have to do it alone. It's harder and riskier up there- ooh! The fact that the day sky and the night sky are the same place adds to the metaphor I think! There's bad, troubling spots and good easy spots that can even be the same spot and- uh... nevermind. But, I'm easier to spot out of a group and I'm freer up there, even if the life is unfamiliar and even a bit more lonely and harder to get to. I guess this is what people mean by 'reach for the stars.' And what Ezekiel means when part of the opening song to the show is 'I wanna live close to the sun.'"

Bridgette sighed. "Sadie, from what I saw Katie was-"

"Did you know I had a choice? I could have picked off Eva, and probably not last as long and live a more normal life. Don't do anything dramatic for the rest of the game. Or I could pick off Katie, be bold, gamble a little. But now that I picked Katie, I realize that I also picked my best friend to leave the game and I'm... not sure if I want any of this anymore."

She felt a hand on her shoulder, the side opposite of Bridgette.

"I think you still do!" It was Jean.

"...Who are you?" Bridgette asked.

"An intern. This will be the only time you see me, unless you watch the show after the game or- well, I'm not staying really long. I'm already packing everything up in case Ezekiel doesn't need me anymore!"

"So why are you here?"

"Because Sadie's friend talked to me today. Back when she was still her friend. First I thought it was weird fangirl gibberish, but the fact that she got voted off after saying that made me think. Just a little."

"About what?"

"Well, she thinks I can do something about Ezekiel's ruder parts. But for some reason her elimination made me remember about his huge crush on Bridgette. And that you could do something about him. And if you have some kind of power to Ezekiel, then why shouldn't Sadie be able to win? Or something like that. I'm even worse at metaphors than you are!"

"And you think you can upstage him?" Sadie asked the intern.

"Nah, I'm done. But maybe another intern will see this episode and get this message. Well, if Justin airs it."

Bridgette rolled her eyes. "He might. The guy does hate Ezekiel after all. And between you and me, I think we can all relate."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: *Arms crossed, huffing at the camera.* I have no sympathy for Sadie whatsoever. Any friend of Eva is an enemy of me.  
>Izzy: ...*Relaxes a little.* And that's why I'm trying to convince Bridgette that she's a bad person, I guess... gah! This confessional is stupid!<p>

* * *

><p><strong>(Car of Failure)<strong>

Ezekiel laughed, laying on his back across the entire back seat. "Well, that's four down, bringing us to our lucky final seven! What's in store next-"

"_Put your seatbelt on._" The intern driving beamed at him.

"Yeesh." Ezekiel said, doing as he was commanded. "Next time, _I'm_ driving the car. I still don't get to lie down, but at least I feel like I'm the boss in here. Anyway, what's in store next time? _Find out_ next time! Right here, on Total! Zeksmit! Plains!

"Oh, and Katie, can you tell me what happened in the challenge and why you got to vengeful to Sadie all of a sudden? And what beat you up? I'd like to know first-hand before I see the episode."

* * *

><p><strong>(Audition - Katie)<strong>

The camera clicked on to show her, and Sadie, standing on opposite sides of a bed.

"Hello there, um... Techsmit?" Katie said, giving the camera an odd look. "I'm Katie,"

"And I'm Sadie," the other one said.

"And we would like to try out for your brand new miniseries!" Both of them finished.

Katie spoke up again. "I hope you can pick us and think that we're a good idea by our double-audition!"

"Yeah," Sadie added, "And we hope that we are the only people to do this!"

"Ooh, probably because not that many people seem to have hope in you."

"Well... we only know that when we asked our friends... but they all said some pretty nasty things about your ad. Then again, they _did_ see EMDHS and we didn't."

"Well, I have _faith_ in you. This sounds like a cute little miniseries and..."

Sadie took a deep breath in, looking at Katie in confusion. "And..."

She looked back, the same expression. Whispering, she threw in, "Well, we can't make our audition made of nothing but talk! Do something!"

"Uuuuh..." Sadie looked at the ground for a brief moment, "Pillow fight!"

Sadie reached down for a pillow right after cheering that and swung, which was only dodged by Katie reaching over herself to grab one of her own. Following this, Katie did not have to worry about the fight anymore, as that single swing had seemed to throw off Sadie's balance so badly that she fell backwards and onto the floor.

* * *

><p><strong>Votes:<strong>

Bridgette: Katie

Eva: Katie

Izzy: Eva

Katie: Eva

Sadie: Katie

**Total:**

Eva - 2

Katie - 3

* * *

><p><strong>Teams:<strong>

**Screaming Buffalo:** Bridgette (Captain), Eva, Izzy, Sadie

**Killer Jackrabbits:** Beth, Courtney (Captain), Lindsay

**Eliminated:** Heather, Gwen, Leshawna, Katie

* * *

><p><strong>Closing AN:<strong>

Because I don't feel I implied it that much in the chapter itself, we probably _won't_ be seeing much of Jean at all. She's not going to be a recurring character. I can't even think of an appropriate next appearance for her. Probably not until the very last leg of the season (the finale, post-game Aftermath, and special), and that's for a cameo only _and_ if I'm feeling generous. She's really sort of an attempt at making a cameo of a gender-bent John from _Homestuck_, and I generally don't like the idea of making the higher-ups in screentime the interns because it seems like "intern" would just be used as an excuse to have a contestant that can't get voted off. But that is not to say that she will be completely pointless. You'll see later.

Well, at first I dreaded the chapter, but when I actually started writing the events and how it affected the characters... I think it's one of my favorites so far! Yeah, to be honest most of the characterization for this story is made up as I go along writing the rough draft, with the only things planned being the eliminations and the content of the challenge. Even the _causes_ of the eliminations and the _specific elements_ of the challenges aren't that thought through until the draft, and after that I go through with the ideas I have and try to pull it together with the story's past and future chapters. There are some exceptions, though. Ones that I have a little more planned through than others. And one such example is...

Next up: **Pairing is Caring**. After a special little "pre-challenge" to pick one of the Screaming Buffalo to sit out, each of the remaining three are partnered up with a member of the Killer Jackrabbits, and they have to survive in the woods in a game of Camping Chicken!


	5. Pairing is Caring

**Total Zeksmit Plains**

**Chapter 5: Pairing is Caring**

**Beginning AN:**

Well, I've been waiting to write this chapter for a _long_ time. And now I'm glad I can finally start it! Oh, and for you _Homestuck_ fans, happy 4/13! And the shortest span of time so far between getting chapters out in this story! (Of the newer version. If memory serves, the old one had its second chapter published two days after the first, which kind of sets the bar really high.)

**Warning:** As the scroll bar might indicate, this chapter is _looooong_. Longer than any other single chapter I have ever written, breaking the previous record of _496_'s prologue (Though if I didn't care about making _that_ too long it could have easily beaten this). I did not mean for it to be so lengthy, in fact I was worried about it being too _short_, but now it's where it is at and I don't know how to really shorten it. Maybe I could move some of the character scenes to a later chapter? But... well... you'll see for yourself. I'll work on this in a later reversion.

* * *

><p><strong>(Cliff Top)<strong>

Beth swung her legs from the very peek of the cliff overlooking all of Zekitunakwa. Getting a better glance at how far the woods extended, on the other side seeing the peeks of the yellow and purple towers at the far distance - and remembering the only thing Ezekiel said about them.

"Do you think I'll ever make it up to that part of the game?" She asked her current company. "Ezekiel only said that it's not until very late. Will we..."

Courtney's head fell on her hands, unable to come up with a reply. Sadie, the next in line of her company, looked even higher into the air and blew out. Bridgette, the cast rounder, shrugged.

"Look Beth," the first of said three began, "When I first came here, I thought I knew everything. I thought I could handle the challenges. And I still know I can. It's the whole 'we have to vote who we want out of here' part of the game that I'm bad at. I might not be able to make it very far, but I know you will. That's where you excell. Well, except for what happened between you and Lindsay-"

"I'm sorry for that!" Sadie cut in. "Again, I really am! I wish I could uh... make you still think she was a good person deep down! Because I change my mind! Sh-she is!"

"Can you make me think Izzy is still a good person deep down? Because I... tried to see the good in everyone, and Courtney I _want_ to help you get Lindsay together with Beth but... I have some serious issues of my own right now." Bridgette leaned back, sighing. "It really is amazing. How a person can look so different after knowing a part of them for only a few days."

Beth cracked open a can of soda, taking a sip. "Yep."

"Yep." Courtney agreed, not moving.

"Mmm hmm." Sadie hardly moved herself.

"Yep." Finished Bridgette, just as Izzy walked up to all of them.

"Hey guys!" She said, "Ezekiel just announced the challenge! Get into your TZ Swimsuits and stop talking about... what is it, your stupid 'feels?'"

*Cue intro.*

* * *

><p><strong>(Campgrounds)<strong>

"Hey Screaming Buffalo, good news!" Ezekiel said, watching as Justin made a large square in the grass with chalk.

"Are we gonna have another ceremony now, because last episode turns out to be a surprise double elimination?" Eva asked, glancing over to Izzy. Who, in turn, sighed at her.

"Is the challenge something _I_ would like, and not something that nutjob would?"

"Will one of us get a free pass?" Was Sadie's answer attempt.

"Actually, all of you are pretty close!" The host replied. "You see, this challenge needs an even number of people on each team."

"How did you expect that to happen?" Courtney spoke up. "Because there were an odd number of eliminations from when the teams were formed to now, that's impossible!"

"Which is why I actually bothered coming up with this challenge ahead of time instead of waiting until the previous elimination to see that we have an imbalance!"

By this point, Justin had finished with the actual square itself and began drawing curves on each corner.

"You see, one of you gets to sit out for the main challenge, and to determine who, we're having a free-for-all ring out match! Buffalo, each of you stand in one corner - without living the chalk marks - while Justin gets your weapons. Jackrabbits, feel free to watch."

It was only after the campers of the larger team got into place that the concept hit Bridgette.

"Did he say weapons?"

"They're harmless though!" Ezekiel was quick to say, As Justin got out four padded poles. One light blue, one light green, one navy, and one magenta. "When I say 'go,' you can step outside of the little curve marks and use these to push eachother out of the ring. No wait, square. No wait! It's ring. Yeah. Last one standing not only gets to sit out of this challenge, but gets invincibility the next time they would otherwise be open! And who knows, if you can keep this special invincbility going, you could probably sit out of doing one of the later, sudden-death challenges completely! Trust me, there's promise in that reward yo."

And as Justin handed them out to the contestant whose TZ Swimsuit matched their color, Ezekiel added, "You know, these were supposed to be used earlier, for another challenge. Buuuut the idea of that was scrapped thanks to our budget."

He paused for a moment, carefully watching Eva glare down Izzy and Bridgette, with the latter and Sadie nervously watching her. Izzy, interestingly, seemed even more confident than Eva, giggling as she twirled around her staff... pole... thing.

"Begin! Er... no, um, what was it... go!"

Eva and Izzy bolted at eachother from opposite sides of the arena, their poles quickly locking onto eachother, and both of them pushing with uncanny force. Bridgette and Sadie could only stare as Izzy decided to be bold, making a quick bend back to avoid an oncoming swipe, and then countering with a jab of her own. And in turn, this pressed Eva back a surprising distance, sliding on the grass until she was at a point where only one leg was still in the arena. And that leg was currently up, wobbling through the air. Ezekiel gasped at this, putting his head down on one palm.

"I know where this is going. Justin, do the rules-lawyer thing. I'm really not in the mood, eh."

He did not have to worry, as Bridgette gave Eva a light and akward swing to her, which knocked her out of the arena and ridded any ambiguity.

Right after this, Sadie suddenly stood up in alertness, running so that she was facing both of the remaining campers and watching the two of them plot out their future strategies. While Bridgette began lightly making her way towards her, Izzy went for a full-on dash.

Sadie gasped in panic, flipping around her staff once, then again. After seeing no change in Izzy's pattern, she continued twirling it around, trying desperately to find a good way to hold it. This went on, the pole soon becoming a pink blur, her hands flinched back and she was only "holding" it with a finger, and...

The grass in front of it began getting pushed back. Sadie noticed this just before turning her head and closing her eyes, which made her turn back and peek them open. To see Izzy with her arms crossed, gripping her hands and looking back.

"Trying to blow me out of the arena, huh? It won't work! I survived a tornado once!"

Laughing, Sadie turned just in time to let her fan-pole start to affect Bridgette. Unlike Izzy, who at this point jumped down and gripped at the dirt even though it wasn't pushing her anymore (trying to hold her weapon in her mouth, biting down at the middle point), Bridgette was blown out of the chalk square by the wind. While grinning at causing the next elimination, Sadie was unaware that Izzy had lept off from her previous stance and smacked the sweet girl's face with the edge of her pole. Flinching back, Sadie blindly took several steps away from the redhead, an unknowingly away from the ring's boundry.

"We have a winner!" Ezekiel announced, "Izzy, you are now free to go to your cabin and relax. You can also listen in on the challenge if you want, but you won't be able to see what they'll be doing until you get a chance to watch the episode, after either your elimination or the game ends. You know," he chuckled, "Whichever comes first.

"As for the rest of you... we'll be doing things a little differently this episode. Now, only because I have no idea how else to do this without bringing in a lot of luck - something I don't wanna really do unless I'm desperate - I'm giving the Screaming Buffalo another advantage. As part of having more team members."

"This is ridiculous!" Courtney said, "Doesn't _our_ team get anything?"

"Sorry, this is _Total Zeksmit_ though! No pity prizes!

"So, we'll do this going by the order you won, from the order you lost. First Sadie picks a member of the Killer Jackrabbits to go with, followed by Bridgette, then Eva. And where you'll be going is the challenge:"

He guestured both arms over to the direction of the woods.

"Our camping-within-camping... chicken game! I'll give each pair a set of camping tools and a map, with each map having a different colored circle drawn on it. I hope none of you are colorblind, because that sticker's color corresponds to a specifically marked site that you will hang in- hang out at. You may wander out of your own site, but you may not leave the woods _or_ go into another site. Or set your tent up outside of your site. You shouldn't go too far west, away from where the map charts. If you go _really_ far, you'll find that luxury resort the-"

Justin ran behind Sadie, rapidly shaking his head, frowning at him, making a cutting guesture over his neck, pointing to Sadie, and then using two fingers to imitate someone walking.

"-The show staff such as myself relax. And nobody else. Not the eliminated campers, they're on a plane to... another similar resort but in... South America."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Sadie: Ezekiel is a bad liar! Why is he telling us this? Does he think I'll run after Katie? No! I had the chance to do that the last three days, and I didn't! *Shrinks back.* Mostly because Eva will kill me.  
>*Rough knocking on the side opposite to the door, Sadie shrieks and runs out.*<br>*Izzy pops in, and laughs.*  
>Izzy: You know, even though I really really really <em>hate<em> Eva and Sadie, I think I can beat them! Eva's temper and crazyness has _got_ to get her voted off eventually, and Sadie's... well, manipulable!

* * *

><p>"And Kathy would catch you anyway." Ezekiel continued. "Ya' know, becides making the designs for what we'll use, her other, unofficial job is to keep people in and out of Zekitunakwa while the game is going. If she doesn't scare you back to the campsite, then she'll 'teleport' you there. She's like a one-woman border patrol."<p>

"So, what do we do when we get there?" Courtney asked.

"That's what makes this challenge interesting! Somewhere in your bag of supplies is a panic button. Press this, and an intern will be there to ask who pushed it, and the person who did has to actually confess that they fully want out of this challenge. Then I or Justin come in to get another verification, in case the intern's lying. But they probably won't, so I won't waste my time going to a bunch of false alarms. Oh, don't threaten your... um, I don't want to say teammate, but for now teammate, to push the button and confess. We'll see if you're doing that. Not cool. When someone leaves, the other team gets one point, and the person with the quitter may go back to the cabins."

"What about the quitter?" Sadie asked.

"Oh yeah, they can go back to the cabins too. The challenge ends once one team gets two points. Or when three days pass, in which case we go to a tie breaker. I do want to keep a schedule for the next challenge, after all. And this means that, for the first time in _Total Zeksmit Plains_ history, we'll have a challenge that covers more than one day!"

"Oh, man!" Bridgette facepalmed, "Izzy would be our best asset!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ezekiel said, "I guess I should have told you the camping _before_ the free-for-all! Because then-"

"Nope, I woulda still beat everybody." Izzy stretched out. "Because I like to try my best."

"Ah, alright then. Anyway, Buffalo, pick your... not-teammates! Sadie, as the runner-up, you go first."

She put a hand to her chin, studying the opposing team members (who have since lined up), before fixing her gaze on one in particular.

"Lindsay!"

"Aw, this again?" The chosen camper cried, "I'd rather stay in the woods with Eva than with you!"

"Come on Lindsay, _pleeeeease_?" Sadie begged, "I didn't really do anything to help your friendship...s. If anything, I only made it worse!"

"You don't have to beg, you know." Ezekiel said, "Lindsay, whether you like it or not, say hello to your new cabin- er... tent mate. But, since I've given the Buffalo too many advantages already, I'll do something nice for your team. It's not an advantage itself, but... here,"

He tossed the blonde Jackrabbit a rolled up map, a compass, and a giant, closed up sack.

"You get to be the first to carry your map and supplies, and you are the Yellow Team. Now, from here on out you _shouldn't_ get going, because I'm gonna give one last rule that should shake things up a bit. Bridgette?"

"I pick Courtney."

Ezekiel scratched his head. "Er... any... particular... reason for that? Because seriously, I'm puzzled."

"Well, aside from meeting captain to captain, I want to have a closer eye on her. She's... a little shifty."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: Also, I don't want to be with Beth. As cruel as it sounds to leave her with Eva, she makes for _horrible_ outdoors company.

* * *

><p>"...Aaaaand with you being the Pink Team, that leaves Beth with Eva as the Blue Team. Okay then, now for the twist: While you are not allowed to enter another team... er... pair's - I'll get the hang of it - camping region, you may meet up with one of them outside of either of your regions and... I don't know, team up and stuff. This isn't really a rule, I'm just saying that you <em>are<em> allowed to have secret trading locations, even if you have to find them first." He shrugged. "Mostly because I can't think of any way to keep you from meeting eachother without just boringly cutting the woods into three bigger sections, and in that case what's the fun in that if you can't explore?"

They gave puzzled looks at him, Beth in particular trying to find an answer.

"Um, the challenge started eh. You can go. Or have a final little huddle where you discuss the meeting locations. Since this'll take days, I'm already gonna go over to that same resort I talked about earlier and hang out until the elimination ceremony, where after that I'll join whoever gets kicked off on their plane ride to... um... Europe!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Blue Team)<strong>

"So I was thinking a lot about the last challenge," Beth said, glancing all over at the slightly sun-blocking trees. "That was a pretty nice cave system! Do you think there's more caves in the forest? If there are, we - uh, I mean, I, forgot we're still on different teams - could make this so much easier and so much cooler! I could see if I can find anything over there - soft stone to use for tools, nocturnal animals I can befriend, maybe I'll even get lucky and find some ore! But what could I do with it? I was thinking of using any gems I find as currency for my real teammates, but this is a short challenge and we don't have that much, so trading will be more useful. Unless that currency comes in the form of something else? Leaves? No, that's too easy. Fish? Too hard, and they'll be eaten before I can give them to anybody! Especially Lindsay. She _loves_ fish. Maybe it's because she's had a richer background than most of us? Did you know about rich people and caviar? No wait, that's fish eggs. I think they taste different. Do they? I don't even WANT to know. Eating eggs sounds disgusting. Well, except for chicken eggs, obviously. Well... actually, chicken eggs and fish eggs are almost like the same concept, and maybe I only find the chicken ones so not-gross because I was raised where it just isn't? It's funny how that works, right? Oh, speaking of food, I know a few really good techniques, I don't think ANYBODY in the game except for maybe Izzy can beat me. Well, I've heard of some people that can cook with nothing but some stone and a torch under it, are you one of them? I'm not gonna try to steal some of your grill. I just want to know. Maybe Izzy is one of them, since she's, you know, REALLY into going into the wild..."

"Urgh..." Eva muttered under her breath.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Normally, I would yell at her. But then she would tell her friends the first chance she gets. Lindsay? I don't care about her. At all. But if Sadie gets news of that, she'll finally find a good reason to hate me. Who knows, maybe she'll even connect the dots and find out that Katie wasn't lying about me? In that case, I'll be left without an ally, and that's a _serious_ problem this early into the game.

* * *

><p><strong>(Yellow Team)<strong>

"Wow." Sadie said. "I guess Ezekiel _really_ wanted the borders to be clear."

She said this because the yellow circle on the map turned out to be tangable. Sort of. There was yellow tape lined over the ground, forming what she and Lindsay assumed was a circle, but because of its size combined with their stance, it looked more like a line with some very slight curve to it. Shrugging, Sadie crossed it, with Lindsay following.

"I'm glad Ezekiel gave us shoes to go with our bikinis." Lindsay said, "The ground here is just... _terrible._"

"Mmm hmm. So where are you going to pitch the tent?"

"Well, I want it to be away from the tape, so that we won't get attacked by any creatures."

"But... they don't really care about the tape. If anything, I have to worry about Cou- actually, just Beth coming over to scare me or something like that."

"Hm, you make sense!" Lindsay smiled, stopping in place and dropping the bag. "We'll sleep here! But first..."

Predictably, the orange-clad blonde walked right out of the circle, quickly dissapearing in the foilage. Sadie crossed her arms.

"Wow."

* * *

><p><strong>(Pink Team)<strong>

"Look Bridgette, if you want to impress me by the time the merge comes and join my alliance, you're too late." Courtney said as she crossed over their team's pink line of tape. "Three episodes too late! You had the chance when you were calling for teams and the first words out of your mouth were _not_ 'I want to pick Courtney before anybody else gets the chance to.' You shouldn't have made that pact with Gwen and humiliate me by saving me for last."

The surfer stopped in her tracks, blinking at her only other present co-camper. "Now you think... that I had a pact with her? To get at you?"

And that, in turn, made Courtney stop. She gave a heavy sigh, dropping the supply bag at the same time and lightly pulling it open. "Yeah. Until about five seconds ago. When you said that out loud and I realized how stupid I sound."

Both of them started shuffling through what their host gave them. The tent set, by far the largest object, was a given. Other materials included a pair of flashlights, a pair of fishing rods (which Bridgette casually told Courtney she could use both of them), a pair of knives, a large red button with "PANIC" kindly written on it in all caps, and a large box that was currently in the process of being pulled out by Courtney.

"I'm really sorry Bridgette." She said, casually heaving out the second-to-largest object. "It's just that... Eva and Lindsay have made me so paranoid lately. Lindsay with turning against me, Eva with her evil schemes..."

"Woah, really?" Bridgette said, currently in the middle of sticking a pole through the humid ground that was in a midpoint between dirt and mud. "First Izzy, then Katie, and now you? Why does everybody hate Eva?"

"Hey, is that a pizza box?"

Bridgette sighed. "We're going to be together for... up to three days. I know you're the first Eva-hater I know of that's on a different team, but you shouldn't try to keep this a secret. And by changing the subject? What do you think I am-"

She was stopped when Courtney dropped what did, indeed, look like a pizza box in front of her. Bland white cardboard, decorated with a dashed faded-teal square bordering a signature and matching phrase. This phrase, the words 'Ezekiel's Bland Name Product Services,' were embroidered in very delicate, cursive writing. The bottom right corner, just before the dashed line, was a sketch drawing of Ezekiel's head and right hand, the former grinning with the latter giving a thumbs-up.

"Huh. That's nice of him."

She immediately placed a hand on it and looked up at her teammate.

"I won't let you open this until you tell me why you think Eva's evil."

"But-"

"It doesn't have to be a good reason! I'm getting that desperate to know if there's something about her I haven't figured out but even someone who isn't on the same team _did._"

Courtney sighed. "You really are determined, aren't you?"

"...Okay, this is pushing me a to crazyness a little, maybe I-"

"And you can't ask Izzy or Katie?"

"I don't want to get near Izzy anymore, and Katie is gone."

"Before she was eliminated."

"Well, she was also crazy. But you... you look like you know how to handle this. More than Izzy or Katie did."

"Alright, fine. Back in the second challenge, Eva asked me for an alliance. Across teams. I never liked her in the first place, but what I really objected to what how she said it with such _malace_, I can't believe the nerve someone like her would-"

"Why did she ask _you_? I mean, no offense, but you were kind of at risk of being the first camper voted off. Unless she likes the losers- losing- no offense..."

"Well... um... she liked my atittude I think?"

"Atittude to what?"

"Ugh, you're good! You realize that I'm only telling you this because I feel really isolated right now, since you and Beth are the only campers that are not plotting something against me, right? Probably not plotting something against me? I know Lindsay may look like she's all over the place, but if there's one thing constant, she thinks _I'm_ some horrendus monster just because of what I did when I needed to make a tough choice. Do you also know that I can _easily_ rip that nice, warm pizza box from your hands?"

She paused, looking at the ground, then back at Bridgette. Her teammate still had a hand over the box, keeping it shut.

"Okay, fine, you win. I hated how you got lucky and got through the challenge, and I wanted to be a team captain in your place. And I hated the reason why I wasn't a captain with you: Katie. That girl ran into me, we lost both of our guilded Zekes and got shot right after that. She may have no chance of winning and being a captain, but I did, and I lost it. Right there. So suddenly!"

"What does this have to do with Eva?"

"Eva told me that she says she could get Katie eliminated... and... well... you. And, seeing how Katie was voted off three days ago... well, I'm getting a little scared of her. And I don't scare easily! Okay, that's a lie, I have a few fears! But they're all perfectly reasonable, like the fear that I will fail in life. Or, getting a little more personal, that I might fall for some random, trashy guy and my life will plunge. I've heard about something like that! A confident woman who knew a lot about trucks and wanted to move away from her old, broken trailer-trash life who... married a redneck! And became the same trailer trash she hated! Well, no, I heard that that happened on a show. But it may be a true show! That isn't going to happen to me, right? Bridgette, please tell me that that will not happen to _me._ That has got to be my hands-down worst fear. But it's not. My real worst fear is actually green jelly. It's just... uncanny? Bridgette, do you have a worst fear? Or, maybe that's too personal, just a fear?"

"Well," She finally finished getting the tent set up, "I had one of being alone in the woods, but I think I'm getting over that."

Bridgette noticed Courtney giving her a look.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Uh... do you want the pizza? I'll just let you have half."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Bridgette: I don't say this that much, but I'm _glad_ Courtney doesn't seem to be interested in girls. It's bad enough that I have Izzy and her really weird crush-in-denial on me and Ezekiel clearly likes me, a full-blown love rhombus would kill me. Unwanted harems are _not_ that fun, after all. I knew someone who had, like, eight girls after him. It's not as pretty as the books make it look.

* * *

><p>Inside the box, all they found was a slip of paper. The same picture of Ezekiel was in the bottom right corner of this, only written in black pen along with the following note:<p>

"'Dear campers:'" Bridgette read, "'I thought this would be obvious, but just in case Ezekiel forgets and you don't figure it out, you have to find all of your own materials from here on out. All we gave you...'"

* * *

><p><strong>(Blue Team)<strong>

"'...Was the items needed to make getting the items needed for surviving easier, but not the actual items needed to make surviving easier.'" Beth said, announcing the second half to the show's viewers as she tied another rope on her makeshift house, "'Except the tent. That was my idea. Good luck, signed, Justin Bailey.'"

Beth leaned back, sighing. "I guess free pizza was too good to be true."

"Unbelievable!" Eva cried, hammering the last nail to keep the tent down. Using her own fist as the hammer. "To give us all false hope like that. Is that worthless paper even worth anything?"

"Well, there might be a secret message on the ba-"

There was, as a simple flip confirmed. Beth cringed as Eva ran behind her, reading it as well.

_yeah, you weren't juZt being played, dawgZ! aZ one laZt final twiZt, hidden in theZe woodZ iZ a tiny, portable Zhack. the Zame Zhack you got changed into your coZplay outfitZ from laZt epiZode. thiZ paper will have two digetZ on it, and your little Zide-taZk iZ to find the other team'Z numberZ, Zince they have different digetZ. alltogether they will make a code, which you decode at the Zhack hidden in the woodZ, and my internZ Zhould let you in. firZt team there getZ a day'Z worth of freZh food! team captain getZ more power in how it Zhould be Zplit, though._

_XX__49__XX_

_- EZEKIEL_

The first pair of Xs was written in yellow (in contrast to the majority of this note's deep, saturated teal), the numbers themselves in blue, and the second pair in pink.

"Oh, it's on." Eva said, before taking off and soon crossing over the deep blue tape line.

Beth could only laugh after Eva vanished from her sight.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Beth: Sheeee'ssss... kind of stupid. For one, I think her teammates are still setting things up. For another, she probably doesn't know how to _guard_ her things. I can just steal them! And finally, why does Ezekiel write like that? Jeez, and I thought he couldn't get more obnoxious.

* * *

><p><strong>(Pink Team)<strong>

"Okay," Bridgette said in her tent, adjusting her sleeping bag as Courtney did the same. "Let's try to set up a system here. To avoid the need to fight for anything. We'll split the tent's room in half. One side is clearly mine. The other side is your's. And we do not cross, under any reasons. Everything we get, we get for keeps, to ourselves and ourselves only. Unless it's a group effort, like catching a giant fi- er... pulling out a _huge_ fruit." She sighed, "This part will work a lot better if I wasn't a vegetarian. In case of something like that, we split it evenly. Fifty-fifty. No arguments over who put more effort in. Good idea?"

"On one hand, I could overpower you and steal everything. On the other, I like the way you think. It's very democratic and civilized. And you have been good company so far. So I'll go by your system."

"Good." Bridgette placed the panic button in the middle, placing some sticks down in a line between the two bags. (Which, by the way, were packed with the tent.) "I'll get the tape, to form a... better line."

"Or not. Ezekiel seems to like reusing things. What if he picks up the tape and makes a big ball out of it later? And then there's the ambiguity it will cause if some of the border is missing. Let's stick with the sticks."

"So-"

Courtney made a sudden move out of the tent, walking away from her 'good company.'

"I don't technically want to give you any advice, but I'm going to look for food. Oh, and FYI, I took what you said about using both fishing rods seriously."

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

"So, this is a first!" Izzy giggled with excitement, wandering into the Mess Hall's kitchen and watching Justin stuff two large paper bags in the fridge. "It's just us, huh _Just_in? Get it? **Just**-in?"

"Yes, but it's just going to be you really soon."

"What?"

"Well, Ezekiel already left, most of the interns are either with him or on shifts at this secret little reward place for solving a code, and right about now I'm going on a short vacation."

"Vacation?"

"Ezekiel gave me, Geoff, and Kathy a week's worth of vacation time. It's pretty generous, since this game is exactly four weeks long. I can be out for a quarter of it! Geoff begun his week last episode, he took it all in one blow, so that he can let some steam off and be away from Ezekiel just before the first Aftermath. _He_ is the one who was _actually_ on a plane to Europe. Kathy says she already spent all of hers, sporatically going to Ezekiel's house to talk with his family about the game. Me? I have faith in you guys, so I'm using my entire first 24 hours on this challenge, because I am sure that at least two of the pairs will still be over there next morning."

"Oh. So you won't cook for me?"

"Actually, that's what's in the bags. As I have faith in everybody, this should only be enough for you. And maybe two more people. For lunch and dinner. Once I get back, I'll get back to being the game's chef."

He began walking away, eyes closed and his hands in his pockets. He practically predicted Izzy to say this exact thing to him:

"WAIT!"

"Why?"

"If there's no interns, no Ezekiel, no you, obviously no Geoff, and I have no idea about that Kathy, that leaves me one hundred percent undeniably completely utterly totally alone. how will I not go crazy?"

He slid another panic button out of his pocket, casually placing it on the nearest table and resuming his walk.

"I thought of that."

"What does it do?"

"You can find out if you want."

* * *

><p><strong>(Yellow Team)<strong>

Both of the contestants cheered as flames began to jump up on the pile of sticks, rising to the top and giving a warm orange glow to contrast with the forest's shady overlook.

"I didn't know you could make a fire!" Sadie said.

"Beth taught it to me! ...To be honest, she taught me while I was telling her to scare you. Because I asked her. Because I was a little scared, and when I ran across her I..."

"Hey, that's good!" Sadie said, pushing aside everything aside from the point she will bring up, "You and Beth still _do_ have a chance! How did that happen?"

Lindsay's lips curled down, silently watching the fire instead of giving a direct answer. She prepped up - just by a little - when Sadie began tearing apart the not-pizza box and tossing the scraps of cardboard into the flames. She held up yet another stick - this one having a dead fish impaled on it - before speaking.

"I said I was sorry. I told her, really fast, that I think maybe we should still be friends, and she can still be friends with Courtney, as long as Courtney and I are just, well... we won't speak to eachother. She said 'That's better than I thought it would get,' and still sounded mad, but at least she taught me how to make a camp fire! And not just any way, the best wa- hey. Hey!"

Sadie froze for a second while Lindsay stared at her hand, then walked much faster than she was before towards the fire. Lindsay was quick to jump up from her seated position and get between the camper and the flames.

"What are you doing?" The blonde asked.

"Adding more fuel?" She said.

"I saw what's in your hand."

"Oh, what?" Sadie giggled, "Yeah, that paper with the message Ezekiel wrote. Hee hee! It's just... um, so rude, and what better to deal with Ezekiel than to burn this paper with him smiling on it? I mean, you had no problem with me burning the pizza box."

Lindsay crossed her arms again. "_Justin_ wrote the message at the front, we both knew that when we read it."

"Ok, sorry, I got them mixed up! You know, it includes a picture of Ezekiel on it! For... some reason!"

"And Ezekiel wrote the hidden message on the _back_. Beth told me everything when we found eachother."

Sadie made no further reply, only trying to toss the paper into the fire. However, thanks to air resistance, it floated long enough for Lindsay to grab it.

"Blah blah blah lazt final twizt, blah blah blah zed zed zed internz zhould let, blah blah blah...

"HERE! Twenty four, followed by four Xes! Sadie!"

Looking up from the paper, she only found that the largest camper was already gone.

"Sadie!" Lindsay repeated, "I open myself to you, and you almost betray me like that! Some friend you are! Maybe Courtney and Beth aren't the problem?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Sadie: That was too mean of me. I tried to take advantage of her flashbacking, and I think all it did was cost me _another_ friend. I feel so bad about it! Using someone's natural emotions like that!  
>Sadie: ...Which is why I feel <em>terrible<em> about the fact that I'll have to do it again sometime.

* * *

><p><strong>(Pink Team)<strong>

Courtney casted the second fishing rod, letting its lure splash on the river, get tugged by its current, and ultimately fall into the depths, as the rod itself rested on the grass by land. She looked at the other pole, which by this point was in a similar case.

"This was actually a good idea." She said to nobody in particular. "At first I was just warning Bridgette how inconvenient depriving her of something so useful would be, and maybe trying to get back at her for that backhand insult, but now... well..."

She was cut off by the sight of Lindsay riding downstream, barely balancing on a log and using her own fishing rod to row herself. The ditz quickly jumped off, put a hand on Courtney's mouth, and darted around.

"Shh! This isn't a confessional!" She whispered, "Now they might know where you are, when I tell you this!"

"Hmm?" Was all Courtney could really say.

"You know that paper in the pizza box? It turns out the other side of that has a piece of a code number, and if we get all pieces together, we'll get the code, and we enter that in in a secret little shack and get a lot of free food or something! Captain gets the orders!"

Finally finding Lindsay's hand off her mouth, Courtney whispered herself. "Does Beth know about this too?"

"Yes! In fact, she's in charge of remembering the numbers, since she has a better memory of them. Now go, go to your campsite, and I'll look for Eva and stall her!"

"I'm with Bridgette, Beth's with Eva."

"Oh, right! Well... after you get the number, go to the outer edge of the tape and walk down it. Beth should be somewhere near the edge."

"Oh hey, the strategy of using the tape as a marker!" She said, slightly louder, "Bridgette and I use that to find our tent, in case neither of us have the map or something. Just follow the tape until-"

"No time to keep talking! This is a race! Now let's go!"

Courtney re-gripped the second fishing rod she cast, and ran over to the first to find it shaking in place. Both of the campers staring in curiosity, Courtney gave it a decent tug, pulling out a large, red bass that landed perfectly in Lindsay's hands.

"Aw, thanks!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo)<strong>

On the bottom right corner of the screen, a digital clock reading 02:00:00 (counting up, starting with the last one each second) faded in while Izzy slammed the door to the showers open, clad in nothing but a pair of towels. One around her body, the other around her head. In case anybody didn't get it, Ezekiel's voice added a handy narration:

_"So while we were editting this, Justin told me that this happened two hours into the camping eh. That's what the clock is for."_

Izzy lept off of the small staircase, slamming the door shut and giving a warm look around at the surrounding campside.

"_Aaaaall aloooone!_" She sang, "I'm just _aaaaall alooooone_! The weather is nice, there's no fire or ice, and I think I'm gonna eat some mice!"

She shouted the last part out in the general direction of the cabins, complete with cupping one hand around her mouth for amplification. She put it back down afterward, staring at the camp site.

"Hm. I really _am_ alone. But hey, that means Ezekiel or Eva or Justin can't tell me not to go streaking!"

She whipped off both towels, dashing in the same direction to the cabins.

"Oh yeah, and screw drying my hair!" He cried on the way to her own team's cabin, "The heat's really picking up, I should keep it wet!"

Bolting inside, her first destination was her own bed, where she kept an extra towel holding most of the food Justin had cooked on it. Pretty much everything has been eaten and appropriately thrown away, with the bag it was in tilted sideways, other trash laid out to be caught by the towel, and one thing remaining: A breakfast burrito.

The nude redhead yanked this, and took a leap to the sole bed in the room that wasn't part of a bunk. Giggling, she rubbed her butt against this isolated bunk, saying "_This_ is what I think of you, Eva!" as she took bites of the last bit of food from that pack. After getting the mattress itself, she moved on to do the same with the pillow, finishing this one with a fart.

"Eva's gonna get what she deserves out of this. I don't care if she'll kill me once this airs and she sees what I've done. And hey," she put the burrito in her direct sight, "Don't these things give you... meh, no, too obvious, she'll know it's me, and not a bear drawn to the pheromones in all of her gross sweat."

Later on, as the clock displayed again reading 11:00:00, Izzy was now seated on top of the cliff once again, this time watching the sun set as she blew on a shoddily made flute. Her rythmless, senseless tune blared from the peak, spit flying out of the instrument as its nude player tried to see if covering some of the irregularly shaped holes made any difference. It didn't. Well, one might of.

Eventually, Izzy seemed to become self-aware of how crappy the song was, taking the flute away and looking at it with a disproving, "Wow I suck at making my own musical instruments."

She tossed it over the edge of the cliff and towards the lake, looking at the direction of the woods to see the planet's nearest star vanishing down the horizon, looking as though the forest's endlessness managed to hide even it. Izzy laughed.

"It must _suck_ to be those guys! I joy ride over there all the time! They think it's bad when the trees hide some of the sunlight? Well, in the day time, at least they _got_ sunlight! And they _don't_ got nocturnal predators! Heh heh, I think I'm gonna get some company soon. _Really_ soon. And Justin was wrong about everybody making it to the end of the first night. Really wrong. Really..."

A wolf's howl was heard in the distance. Izzy flinched that off with a laugh.

"Really..."

A bear's roar was also heard, this one a little less distant.

"_Wrong._"

The following sound got her to drop the act completely. A human screaming would be the best base to start it with, followed by tossing in a metallic filter, and then splitting it by putting it in front of a fan, with a final step of making it loud enough to practically cause the setting to shake.

"Welp, time for bed! Let's see, let's see... should I walk down the cliff, or take the short- no time."

She dove off the edge, as if to follow her own flute. During her descent, she yelled, "_I WONDER HOW THE OTHER GIRLS ARE DOING!_"

* * *

><p><strong>(Blue Team)<strong>

Beth had heard the mysterious roar herself, stopping in her tracks, clinging to the nearest tree, and watching around for any signs of the source. She stayed like this, shivering, until she saw her fellow Killer Jackrabbits run past her.

"Girls! Wait up!"

Lindsay and Courtney skidded to a stop, turning in curiosity at Beth's current placement.

"I know I told Lindsay and Lindsay hopefully told Courtney that we will all meet up in the clearing, but... well, that roar and our path crossing right here changed my plans. Speaking of that, do you know what that roar was?"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "No way could it be from an animal. It's Ezekiel trying to mess with us. He already figured out that this challenge was a bad idea, and he's scaring us into pushing that panic button. So, my digets are six and eight. That means that put altogether..."

"Two four four nine six eight!" Beth finished. "And I think I might know where the spot is!"

She held up a map, pointing to the locations of the camping regions and tracing her finger across them to make a point.

"As you can see here, these make a triangle-"

"Well, of course they do." Courtney cut in. "There are three points. I mean, it's impossible for them to not make a triangle in some way without the sites being arranged in one line."

"And that's just it! Why would Ezekiel, who is so worried about trying to make his game as fair and balanced as possible, put the sites at different distances from eachother? It's a clue!"

She had three fingers out, each on the center of the camping region's circle, and moved them at roughly the same pace until they joined at a spot in the estimated middle.

"Finding this shack isn't luck, that's not how Ezekiel would want to play the game! Even for a bonus reward like this, we have to figure out that it's hidding in the exact center of all three camping locations!"

"And how are we supposed to find that from here?" Lindsay asked, "I mean, what's the fastest way?"

Beth shrugged. "At the clearing, we should go south-east. With our flashlights, we won't miss it."

"South... east?" Lindsay glanced up, "Okay, I'm trying to believe you, since you taught me how to make a fire, but is it even possible to go in two directions at once like that?"

"Y-yes, and we'll-" Courtney began before seeing Beth tossing Lindsay a look. "_I'll_ explain later. For now, follow us."

* * *

><p><strong>(Yellow Team)<strong>

"Hello?" Sadie shouted from one of the higher branches of a tree, "Is anybody here? Eva? Bridgette? ...Izzy? Lindsay? Justin? Ezekiel? Beth? Even Courtney would be a good sign! Anybody? Hello?"

She stopped to take several breaths in, lying down on the wood before getting back up, "I kind of had to run away from Lindsay! And then I got lost! And I had to run away from a bear... then a snake... then I found my campsite... then I had to run away from an alligator... and then I got lost again... for several hours I think, because it's night... and then I heard a scary roar... help!"

Sadie tried to scan around, this height just barely giving her a look at the sky. Was that the Zekitunakwa cliff? From here, it looked like a tiny little hill peeking over the leaves.

Her attention was broken at the sound of her current branch cracking, just enough to make her look back at it.

"Okay, _anybody else_ would be good right now! Interns? That Geoff guy? That Kathy girl? Someone voted off?"

She wasn't sure how to react to the following sound of footsteps, except to dart her wide-eyed gaze down to see exactly who was there.

"Bridgette?" Sadie managed to call, just as the branch broke and she was united with her teammate. She proceeded to lift up from the ground and give her a rather constricting hug.

"Sadie? Why were you so... out here? Without a map? Or anything?"

"I had to run..." She gave a quick look at the ground. "Alligator. And now I'm totally lost! Did you bring your map with you?"

"I did-"

"That's totally amazing! Because I can't take this anymore! I _need_ that panic button!"

"Wait. Are you giving up?"

"Yes. And well..." She began rubbing the back of her head, "Not just this _challenge_, but maybe... the whole game?"

"You want to quit? Because you know, if you say the word Ezekiel will be right there and you can go home."

"To tell you the truth, I'm not so sure about that. The second thing, that is. Because I want the panic button."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I thought I could do good on my own without Katie. I did so well in every other challenge, except the first of course because I was the first one out, and I thought I could power my way through this alone."

"I think I know how you feel. This time, things... aren't so simple. It is our first challenge that goes on for more than a few hours."

"Yes, and it's also the first challenge where everything is so dark, so lonely... I know, I know, I wouldn't be on a team with Katie even if she _was_ at this point in the game, but the fact that she's around here instead of... _miles and miles_ over there... at one point, I actually thought about running over to the loser's place, but then I found the Pink Team's campsite by mistake, and I thought... all of that distance. I'm sorry. I don't do so well in the dark. I think. And Katie is so far away... and it's _all my fault_ for not picking her over Eva..."

Still not letting go of her hug, Sadie began to sob over Bridgette's shoulders, tightening her grasp while she was at it.

"Okay, and you say you don't want to quit?"

"Not really." She stopped her sobs. "I heard Beth say something about this. Courtney did something like that. It's like a plan fail safe. If I vote for myself, I'm gone right away, but I don't want that to happen. But... well, if I encourage other people to vote for me instead, then there's a chance that I still might stay!"

Bridgette finally managed to pull away from her, if slightly. "Wait. You're not sure if you want to quit or not?"

"I mean, what if I can make a difference for voting off Katie? What if, instead of quitting, which is like a big 'I'm sorry,' I can win the fifty grand, which is like a big 'Okay I screwed up but I did something good in return!' So, Ms. Team Captain, I'm putting the decision in your hands. If you can convince Eva and Izzy to vote me off too, then I'll leave with my head up, and I won't complain. But if _you_ still think I'm a good teammate, then I'll be happy to stay too!"

"Okay, I'll... think about it."

"Great!" She gave Bridgette several large pats on the back. "You're a great friend. Now, where's my camp site?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits)<strong>

All three of the Jackrabbits waited eagarly, Beth knocking three times on the shack.

"You were right Beth! Amazing!" Courtney said, just as they heard rustling in the bushes.

"Password?" A voice rang from behind the door.

Beth closed her eyes and crossed her arms as she proudly recapped, "Two four four nine six eight."

The intern behind pushed the door open, blowing on a party blower and flicking a switch which soon filled the mini-cabin with music. "Congradulations!" She cheered, "You won the secret hunt for the secret supply of food!"

After the Jackrabbits flew in, Eva darted out from the bushes and ran to the shack at top speed. Her pursuit ended came to an abrupt halt when the door slammed mere inches away from her.

"Hey!" She cried. "I figured it out too!"

"Oh man," The intern almost laughed, "There's so much wrong with that. One, you're not a team captain, and your captain isn't eliminated yet. The choice of who gets to pick the food ration goes to... oh I don't know, whoever calls dibs? Anyway, speaking of which,"

Inside this solo intern turned to a rather underwhelmed team. "Captain... Courtney it was? You get the pick."

A cell phone's ring could be heard from her pocket as Beth looked off the choices.

"Celery? A sundae? Two sandwhiches? Aaaaand... a bowl of watermellon pieces? This isn't exactly food for a day for one person, much less three."

"And the pizza box," Courtney added, "That's kind of the easiest thing to notice."

"Pfft. Like he'll have actual pizza this time. That has the same chance as Lindsay _permanently_ nicening up."

"Hey, maybe he didn't expect all of us to make it this far!" Lindsay suggested, just as the intern hung up. "And maybe you didn't expect that I can be nice to Courtney too!"

"Oh, speaking of which..." said intern began, "Lindsay... um... Sadie pressed the panic button, and got to confirm it to Ezekiel. You're out of the game, but your team gets one point for Sadie's quitting."

The called camper sighed. "Well Courtney, I guess as the captain, _you_ can decide who gets what rational."

"It's ration." She corrected. "Just ration."

"Yeah, ration. I'm just glad that I'm not part of-"

An aroma was what cut off her sentence, just as Beth opened the next box (which, by the way, was identical to the ones they had back in their camps). Both Lindsay and Courtney joined the bispecticaled girl as they looked at the results.

"No. Way." Beth said. "It's an actual pizza this time!"

"Okay," Courtney said, "But it's still not enough food for a whole day. Especially if we split it between the two of us?"

"Wait! Two?" Lindsay cut in. "You're not giving any of that to me on the way back?"

"Well, Justin should be there. Beth and I both think that his food is delicious, and I'm sure you did too!"

Lindsay looked like she was about to say something else, before Courtney cut in.

"Okay, if you really want to, I'll give you two slices of pizza on the go. But only up to two. Remember, Beth and I still have up two and a half days to go, and we need all the food we can."

"_She's right._" Beth added. For once, she seemed to be the smug one compared to Courtney. "You really need to think about the state of others. After all, that's what Courtney's doing!"

Again, Lindsay prepared to speak, except this time she was cut off by herself, lowering her head and hand and looking at the floor.

"Alright, Lindsay, if you need help," the intern said as Lindsay chose to grab her slices, "I'll show you the way out of the woods."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Lindsay: Wait a minute. Am _I_ the selfish one now? I mean, every group has to have a selfish one! Because every group is made of people, and each person is a little different in every way! I mean, of course if I was in a group with, say, Justin, I might be the selfish one there, but I would be okay with that! But a group with _Courtney_ and I'm the selfish one? That won't work.  
>Lindsay: Now that I think about it, ranking who's the most of something out of everyone that's left in our team sounds kind of fun! The pretty one is me, the strong one is Courtney, the smart one is also Courtney, the hero is... um... Beth? With me as her sidekick, even though she seems to like Courtney more... Oh gosh...<p>

* * *

><p><strong>(Woods Entrance)<strong>

With a strange metal contraption in one hand holding it up to her ear and a hand-crafted shield in the other, Izzy shivered as she looked into the trees, watching the slightest signs of rustling.

At first sight of the intern, she jumped towards her before Lindsay and Sadie entered the frame, giving a mild cry just to cut it off after said two campers were visible.

"HI-YAAA-ellow team?" The still nude redhead said, holding down the ear-device yet raising the shield up higher. "Oh. Bummer. I wanted tougher help to get through the night. Did you hear that really loud, ground-shaking yell?"

This was met with a frightened "Yes" from Sadie, a calmer "Of course" from Lindsay, and a nervous look from the intern.

"Other girl I don't recognize, you work here. Do you know what that was?"

"Er... um... maybe... I think, but it's classified. Ezekiel, Justin, and Kathy are the _only_ people who know what it is. He won't even tell Geoff since he's kind of a blabbermouth, even though Geoff is his longest friend! He says that it's just a large bear sometimes, but I'm sure that's a lie. Did you know that he's not a good liar? Look, I gotta go. The other interns may or may not need me, but I can tell that you won't need me."

She took off, going back into the forest.

"Well," Lindsay said, "If Ezekiel knows about it, maybe it's not so dangerous? Maybe... okay, Izzy, what's in your ear?"

"It's a hand-crafted radio transmitter. I used it to try to listen in on what that really loud thing was, and that's when I found the sound of someone coming here!"

"Wow." Sadie stared at it, "Can it really pick up radio signals?"

"Um... no. It's more like a hearing aid if anything."

"Why didn't you just blindfold yourself?"

"Maybe the fact that she doesn't have clothes has something to do with it." Lindsay butted in.

"No, it's because that loud roar thing was scary! And since I have invincibility no matter what, it means I'll have to stay at least two more days even if the challenge ends!"

Lindsay groaned. "Oh, right. We don't have as much time to rest now."

"What are you talking about? Isn't this the usual time Ezekiel calls for the bonfire ceremony?"

"Well, yes."

They exchanged glances at eachother after this, no other noise aside from the chirps of crickets, the gusts of wind (particularly those that ran through the tree's leaves), and the faint sounds of running water from the river.

"You know," Sadie finally spoke up, "It feels really lonely here. Just the three of us. No Ezekiel. No Justin yet-"

"He's on vacation." Izzy cut in.

"Oh. That makes it even more... moreso. No interns. You know, going by people overall we will never be down to so little. In the final two, there will be... the final two, and Ezekiel and Justin bringing that up to four."

Lindsay nodded. "So what are we going to do?"

"Heh," Izzy gave a disoriented laugh, swinging around her shield. "Are you kidding? We need to run to your cabin!"

"Mine?" Lindsay asked while pointing to herself, "Why mine?"

"Because I hid my panic button there! Justin says if I push it, I won't be alone!"

"Why did you hide it in the other team's cabin?"

"Because I stank mine up. Long story."

* * *

><p><strong>(Blue Team)<strong>

"That's IT!" Eva cried, bringing a hand down resulting in another strike of metal-on-metal. This sound echoed through the cave. "I've HAD it!" Yet another strike, this one causing a few sparks.

"The first time I said that getting bossed around because of my rank was over, I thought I meant it. But I didn't." She looked down at her project: One rather metallic spear, with the tool used to make it being another metal object reshaped into a vague hammer. "This time, though, I do. Just like before, if I can't get the luxuries of the higher-ups from other people, I'll just have to do it myself."

She tossed it into a deeper section, watching as it quickly struck a bear dwelling inside. Surprised, the bear pulled it out of its side, turned over to see the camper giving it a glare, dropped the weapon, and ran off into the depths.

"Hrm... yeah." Eva smiled, "I like this place. I could stay here all night if I have to!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbits (Blue Team; Pink Team))<strong>

"This is relaxing." Beth said, tossing in a few more sticks to the fire before sitting down with her only remaining teammate in the challenge. "I'm glad we found this clearing. It's nice to have a first third-night of camping without Ezekiel talking about somebody getting voted off."

Courtney nodded. "Or Ezekiel talking, period. He's the most annoying person I ever met."

"I think everybody agrees with that. He's mean, too. But, uh... what do you think of his assistant? Justin?"

She scoffed in response, leaning back and finishing another slice of pizza. "If you're trying to get me to confess that I'm willing to cheat on my boyfriend for him, you're wrong. I mean, Justin _is_ nice and he _is_ obviously into me, but I would never end a relationship just because some guy like _him_ comes along."

"What if you weren't in a relationship?"

Courtney grinned. "I would date him in a heartbeat - don't look surprised! My boyfriend and I have an agreement about this. We're not exactly _polygamists_, but it's fine for both of us to talk about other girls or guys as long as it's strictly what-ifs. Like, what-if he dies, or what-if he cheats on me, or what-if he goes crazy over me and I don't like him anymore."

"Jeez. You sound like you don't like him _now_. Can you tell me more about him? If I had a boyfriend, I would bring him up non-stop!"

"I'd rather not, with the cameras recording _everything_ here. He never signed any paperwork allowing him to be on the show, so I would rather... play it safe, okay? Not letting the world know that I am associated with him."

"Is there any real reason? You can't at least say his first name?"

"Wow, we haven't even known eachother for two weeks. Don't you think that's a little too personal?"

Beth flinched back, blushing. "Yeah... sorry... let's change the subject!"

"To what?"

"Well uh... your choice!"

"Perfect! I have a great question to ask you! You have been partnerned with Eva for almost a full day now. How are you still... um... don't take this the wrong way, but alive?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I thought everybody else has bunked with her back in the campsite - the _real_ campsite, not this challenge - by now, except for me and Lindsay but with this challenge that brings it up to everybody except for Lindsay. With Bridgette and my friends in one bunk before we made teams, I thought that meant that you bunked with her too."

"Yeah, but that was before she... uh," Courtney sighed, "Started targetting me for an ally."

After saying this, her head shot up at Beth, and she continued onwards. This time, she sounded notably more concerned. "You believe me when I say that Eva painted a target on me, right?"

"...I could. I mean, the people here do kind of feel a little... cut-throat."

"You could? Or you will? Beth, loyalty is a big key to teamwork. That is... uh..." she scratched the back of her neck, "If you know how teamwork... unlike me... Nevermind."

"I think I see what you're trying to say. This is pretty big for you. You're afraid of getting voted off?"

Courtney raised her head at that, giving a mild, slow, unsure nod to Beth, and cringing a little right after. Who answered to that by putting an arm on her back.

"Don't worry about being voted off! I would never vote for you! And you would never vote for you! I think Lindsay's starting to see your good side too! But we don't have to worry about _any of that_ if we do like what you say and put our full feet into the game! Like... um, this challenge."

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"It is not one 'it.' It's a lot of 'its.' There's the merge, for one thing. Sadie following Eva around like a dog, Izzy... being like a dog, and Bridgette. Bridgette! She's the only good contestant left in that team!"

"What about Katie? Even though she kind of but not really cost you the challenge?"

"Katie is still a terrible coward, and I only hate her even more because of what thoughts she gave Eva."

Beth flinched. "You _still_ have a grudge against Katie?"

"Um, yeah?" She answered sarcastically.

"What about Sadie?"

Courtney sighed. "I... don't know about her... she's... interesting..."

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Campsite)<strong>

The clock appeared again, now reading 24:06:16. Another voiceover from Ezekiel was thrown in, saying _"Cock-a-doodle-doo! It's the start of day two!"_

Sitting out on the stairs by the Screaming Buffalo's cabin, the trio of non-participating (any more) campers were all eating strips of cooked fish.

"You know," Sadie said, "Now that it's day again and we're all together, I don't know what was so scary about this camp site in the first place."

"I read about something like this." Izzy commented, "That things are a lot less scary in the light. Except that was more of a joke about how weird the human brain is, but when it's actually happening to you, it isn't so funny. Until you get into light again and you realize that you were scared of nothing. Also, having people around helps. I guess."

"Take my word for it, it does." Lindsay completed having all of the present contestants in the conversation. "I mean, after Gwen and Leshawna were voted off, I had a little more trouble going to sleep. And with Katie gone, I really notice it overall. This came really close to starting off more like... a school or something, with so many people here, but as the numbers go down it really feels more angry and lonely."

"I wouldn't say angry," Izzy took another bite, "More like agressive. Everybody just realizes that since more people are getting kicked off, they have the chance to go to that fancy hotel next, so they can't afford trying to be friends with everybody. That's why I'm such a fun person to be around. I never let being competetive get into my head."

"You _don't_?" Sadie nearly choked on her meal, "You said nothing but bad things about Eva as soon as we went into Lindsay's cabin! You even ranted about her in your sleep!"

"Well, unless it's people who deserve it. Eva deserves it. But if the finals boil down to us, I'll still hold no grudge. I could be in the final two with either one of you, and I will still run back into the woods at dawn, hunt some fish, roast it at a camp fire, bring it out here, and eat it with you!"

Sadie gasped. "Hey, you know what I just realized? We're so close to the final five, that at least one of us will get in no matter what!"

Lindsay's eyes widened. "Oh, you're right! In fact, since we would have an elimination yesterday if this was a normal challenge, I feel like I'm even closer to the money!"

"_Buuuut..._" Sadie broke in, "Between hanging out with me and Izzy, and with Courtney deciding to split some food with you, don't you feel a little more friendly too? I mean, if Izzy can be friendly to us, then maybe..."

"You know what?" Lindsay stood straight up, marched down the stairs, and faced both of the other contestants with her arms in the air. "Yes. Yes! I _have_ been a little too mean to Courtney! Starting today, as soon as she gets back, I'm giving her a second chance!"

Izzy finished her snack. "Good. Because she and Beth are totally going to use you as a human shield."

The blonde's arms dropped.

"And how did you know that?"

"It's kind of obvious. They looked a lot closer than either of them were ever to you, and now they spent... how many hours without you? Fourteen? Well, yeah unlike me they need sleep. Well, I do need sleep. But I can keep myself awake for months when it comes to surviving out in the woods! Courtney... well, I could see her or Beth doing the exact same thing, just by accident and with insomnia-incuded insanity. Say, that makes me wonder, what are they doing now?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Sadie: No! *Bangs head against wall.* No! *Bang.* No! *Bang.* I was so close! I almost had her thinking about being nice to the person who kind of gave her mixed orders and tried to throw her away in the blink of an eye! Well, I don't know for sure if Lindsay hates Courtney again, since all she did was go over to the confessional, and then... she didn't want to talk to either of us...

Lindsay: ...I don't know. Would it be mean if I say she wasted her second chance after the time I gave it to her but before the next time we saw eachother again? Hm...  
>Lindsay: No, no, I shouldn't say that. I mean... heh... it's <em>Izzy<em> I'm talking about!

* * *

><p><strong>(Mess Hall)<strong>

Izzy and Sadie burst into the room, with a less enthusiastic Lindsay following after.

"Justin?" The first said.

"We heard your car!" The second added.

"Are you back? I got dressed again just for the occasion!"

"I'm so glad to see you!"

Not too far ahead of him, the co-host in question turned back to them with a puzzled look. He took a deep breath.

"I hate to give you pretty girls bad news but... I'm going again."

Sadie and Izzy both gasped, while Lindsay simply raised her head more.

"Yeah, it turns out, Ezekiel needs me. Plumbing emergency. Long story short, the hot tub water crossed paths with the toilets somehow and we're trying to keep Heather from sueing us for having her soak in crap. I'm also a plumber, by the way."

Izzy burst into laughter, which quickly ended once the thought she would first say entered her head. "Oh, you're not going to be here again. Anyway, why aren't you laughing? Heather's a horrible person, that sounds hilarious."

"Well, if _Ezekiel_ was the one soaking at the time..." were his last words before he walked out of the hall. His last words after that, and before re-entering his car, were "I left another pair of lunches! I won't be back until the challenge ends, either, I need any excuse I can to stay with him at the losing camper's luxury resort! But hey, think of it as having a way to still find out what your panic button does!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Blue Team)<strong>

"Ugh," Beth ranted to nobody in particular, hiking through the forest and kicking a random pile of leaves. "While I hated the thought of sleeping with Eva only a few inches away, and not having her sleep by me was nice, it would have been nicer to hear a sign of her by now. Any sign. She just sort of left after we got our prize."

She shrugged. "Oh well. Screw the Blue Team. I have only one team that I truly care about. The Killer Jackrabbits! ...Oh, and Sadie. I could get along with Izzy too, with some effort. And it would be a _crime_ not to mention Bridgette, since most of the things she does is pretty nice."

She walked out of view of the active camera. The setting darkened even more, the noises of several unseen crickets was added, an owl was faintly heard in the distance, and the clock re-appeared reading 34:08:09. Beth's face sprung from a lower corner, back into the view of the same camera. Her eyes darted around, and in between breaths she grabbed the recording divice and spoke:

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I still can't find Eva, but I also can't find Courtney. She was not at her usual meeting spot. I don't know where she is, but I spent the last... I don't know how many hours looking for her! I was running around in circles - literally, I actually ran and jogged and walked around the blue circle of tape to look for her, just so that I wouldn't lose my _tent_ too and that would mean losing... the panic button! Agh! But the bad thing about the circle, it _looks_ like it can be a nice little warm protecting barrier keeping all of the creepy animals out, but it isn't at all! It can keep Bridgette from trying to jump out and scare me, but why would I have to worry about that? If anything, it's Eva that can scare me. The tape can't keep any bears or bees, oh no, they don't have to back away from it when they see it. They can go right over like it's nothing! I wonder if Bridgette's allowed to tie something to an animal and use it to get something of her's over _here_ to scare me... ooh... that's a bad strategy... I don't know if-" She gasped. "_What if there's something __**inside**__ the circle oh what do I do what do I do what do I-_"

She took a few steps back from the camera, taking on a more serious expression.

"No. I am done walking around like a coward! I am going to venture out, and look more!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: About not meeting up with Beth... *Scratches the back of her neck.* Funny how easy it is to lose track of time... heh heh. *Looks over at the spot the door was at, which is now open.* Urgh, who broke the door to this thing?

* * *

><p><strong>(Screaming Buffalo Cabin)<strong>

Izzy, now naked again,took several close sniffs of Eva's bed.

"Urgh, using that breakfast burrito was a waste." She said, frowning. "The smell's completely gone now. But the smell of Eva's sweat isn't. What the heck does _she_ eat? I should try some of that."

She turned around, seeing Lindsay shivering under the covers of Katie's bunk, with Sadie taking her own above.

"Are you sure you don't want to trade places?" Lindsay asked. "I mean, you can still kind of smell Katie's... I don't know if it's shampoo or even purfume, but it's something."

"No," Sadie waved a hand down, "I'd rather not get too attatched to her-"

She shrank back in her covers, slowly looking back to the wall that caused her to recoil. "That shadow... that's just another tree, right?"

Izzy rolled her eyes and looked up. "Yes, it is. Don't worry about it. You should probably get some sleep. I know you can sleep in between challenges anyway, but you have less days this time no matter what."

"Aw, thanks." Lindsay said. "Even though I'm on the other team!"

"Well, I also want my rivals to be at their best. It makes the challenge a lot more... alive. Good game, and everything."

Another gust of wind hit the cabin, once again sending Lindsay and Sadie clinging to their mattresses. Even Izzy was briefly startled.

"That is," she said, "if we can even _make_ it to the point that it's a game again! This is seriously our scariest challenge! I mean, even the people not taking the challenge are scared! Right?"

The other two weakly nodded.

"Phew! Good! I thought it was just me! Anyway, I'm gonna hit my panic button right now. After all, I don't think Justin or Ezekiel will dock us points or anything. This isn't the real challenge. It's a nice favor of the show staff."

She proudly swiped it, spun around so she was facing her bunk-mates, grinned, and slammed a hand on it. The button buzzed.

Nothing followed. Except for Izzy frowning.

"On second thought," she said, "what if it's a trick? Pushing it was a bad idea."

"What do we do now?" Sadie asked.

"Well, based on what you guys said, I think this thing works by location, so if we run and hide some place else, then whatever they'll send at us can't find us. Right?"

Lindsay began shuffling out of bed first. "Well, where do we-"

Izzy bolted out the door.

"No time to talk without running at the same time!"

Following and catching up to her would normally not be an easy task. However, Lindsay and Sadie, thinking themselves to be less use to this than Izzy and thus more nervous, had gotten adrenaline rushes that more-or-less matched their speeds up. Soon, the former Yellow Team was up and out of the cabins, and running alongside the wildest of the trio.

"Well," Lindsay repeated and finished, "Where do we go?"

"There's no where to hide in the plains. The woods... not so good of an idea. Everything Ezekiel comes from there, and they might come with sonars and stuff to see us no matter how good we hide in the trees. The lake's too far, same with the cliff or its cool cave. So it has to be a building. It can't be our old cabin, I told you earlier. Our other cabin is too obvious. So... the Mess Hall. It's a big place, lots of things to lock ourselves in, potential weapons, and you can push stuff to block the doors-"

She cut herself off, running off to another direction. Away from Lindsay and Sadie, who had just now realized that Izzy thought of the Mess Hall ahead of time, and that was the exact direction she - and then they - were running towards.

"Or the confessional! It's smaller, so they don't expect people to use that as a hiding spot!"

Izzy at least reached her destination first, slaming the door shut.

* * *

><p><strong>(?)<strong>

From the depths of the woods, a camera with an unknown owner started filming a group of trees. After a few seconds, the view flew past at lightning speed, trees zooming by until it opened up to the plains of Zekitunakwa's main area. Going past the cabins and the confessional, it sped out to the mess hall just in time to record Lindsay - with her eyes closed - slaming the door on it.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: *Breathing heavily, huddled up in the wall opposite the door.*  
>*Loud knocking is heard.*<br>Izzy: Never! You'll never get me alive!  
>*The entire side with the door is broken down. A long, pale hand in a black sleave reaches into the confessional, curling into a fist and punching out the camera.*<br>*Static.*

* * *

><p><strong>(Blue Team)<strong>

Beth, shivering herself, stood in front of a rather large and beckoning opening to a cave. She took several breaths in.

"Okay Beth," She told herself, "It's simple. Just ignore the cave, climb up the rocks around it. That will take me above the tree's leaves. I won't be able to find Eva or Courtney under them, but at least I can find... a good place... to sleep..."

She took a deep, borderline-drowsy sigh. "Just imagine. The night sky. All of these horrible trees being nothing but a blanket of green. Bears can't climb to me. I might even see the cliff out there, like it's waving at me, saying 'You are so close to being out of this horrible challenge!' No! Wait! I'm thinking ahead of myself! First, I should not be afraid of the cave..."

This was pretty hard to do considering how Eva finally made her re-appearance in leaping out of that very cave, now wearing large, purple accessories over her usual TZ bikini composed of boots and a hat. In addition to that, the least unsettling change, was a large, iron battle axe, a fierce attacking pose, and something over one eye (the other, visible one being bloodshot) that looked vaguely like a metal part with some red-tinted lense to it. All the while, she looked tired out and in complete disarray.

"AW YEAH!" Eva cried, "I got my battle axe, my sasquatch gear, and I even made my own magnifier! I am going to _DESTROY_ this forest! I don't care what Ezekiel thinks!"

During this time, Beth was only staring at her in shock. Eva, confused, tried to move closer to her to prod her, just in time for her to stop freezing and start running away screaming. Eva cried after her teammate. "Hey! You're not going to push the panic button, are you?"

"I AM I AM I AM I AM I AM!"

"No you're not!" Eva began chasing after her, swining around her axe and listening to it rip through the air. "I spent an entire day making this! I will _not_ let it go to waste!"

Against all odds, Beth made it back to the campsite. She swung into her tent, reached for the button by her designated sleeping side, dodged backwards as Eva chopped off a good chunk of the tent's top, and pressed the button. After that and the ensuing buzz, Eva stayed glaring at her, before dropping everything down in dissapointment.

"...I wanted to do something with all that cool stuff I made." Eva said.

"Well," Beth said, in between several quick breaths, "Don't worry. Because, because... I'm sure that the guys back at our real camp are having a lot of fun with the extra Ezekielless days!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Mess Hall)<strong>

Even with the table blocking it, the large doors were knocked on three times. In pretty quick, impatient, and hard succession.

Lindsay and Sadie screamed.

The doors were shoved off of their hindges by a violent kick, sending both them and the table flying back. The kicker left their foot stuck out in a stylish fashion, before dropping the entire suit-dressed leg down right becides another. Sadie was still unnerved, but Lindsay became annoyed when their chaser was clear. Standing right in the doorway, an embarrased Izzy over her shoulders, was Kathy. Still holding up that scythe of her's. Still wearing that larger-than-life grin. Still comitting the crime of being bustier than Lindsay.

"Do you remember me, Cutebutt?" She asked.

"Urgh," Lindsay said, "_You're_ the person the panic button sends for company?"

"What?" Sadie turned to Lindsay, "You know this girl?"

"Not really. She talked to me before, she's the Kathy girl I said I found in the woods. After Courtney made a not-secret-any-more alliance with me and Beth."

The game's designer set Izzy down, and whipped out a smart phone.

"You have company coming," She said, "Beth just tagged out. She and Eva are going to be here in due time. Oh, and Lindsay, I found you. It was not the other way around."

"Urgh." Izzy said, "First I find out I'm not the creepiest coolest redhead here, and now Eva's going to be back?"

"Okay," Kathy finally started frowning, pointing her scythe over to Sadie and Lindsay. "To be a little more serious, you two could do better. You had several options. Hide by the kitchen, behind the fridge. Or... under the cabnets. I could have chased you around a lot longer. Scared you a little more. Monsters are not as scary once you can actually see them-"

"Especially when they look like you!" Izzy broke in. "You're kind of adorable!"

"-Because they are no longer a product of your own mind. And you have more insight on what's stalking you. Danger depends on a one's body. Fear depends on one's mind. When something is unknown, the mind can create an image custom made to make it feel like a danger for almost everyone. But it isn't real. Fear isn't real, it's more of... a choice. But danger is real."

Lindsay put a hand on Sadie, who was still mildly shivering in freight. "So on the up side, Beth is going to be back. But the bad side is... we have to stay the rest of the challenge with you. And Eva."

"Think of it this way, Cutebutt," Kathy resumed her grin, "I'm only temporary. Eva could be too. If you play your cards right. Play them wrong, and you could very well be the next person voted off..."

* * *

><p><strong>(Pink Team)<strong>

The clock continued with reading 50:00:00. As with the last about 24 hour span, Ezekiel narrated this.

_"Fwew! Finally! Day three! I was getting sick of this challenge."_

Bridgette groaned awake, stretching out in her sleeping bag and looking around to see that the other half was completely empty. She sighed, unzipping the bag and shuffling her way out, briefly cringing at hitting her head against the too-low tent's top, and fumbling around for the zipper. She paused when she noticed Courtney's shadow over the tent. Then continued unzipping the opening, before noticing the shadow moving at the sound. She paused again to speak.

"Courtney? Is that you?"

The figure outside grabbing on to the zipper and yanking the entire thing down confirmed that it was her. Courtney's tone chilled Bridgette at the first words, even if they were not specifically about her.

"Did you see any sign of Eva?"

"N... no. And I guess you still haven't seen Beth? Because that's why you were kind of sitting right outside our tent?"

"Well, as a CIT I thought I was only second to Izzy in figuring out these woods, so I could mentally map it out and scout her out. And Beth is her roommate, so she could have a better idea. And you are both her original teammate and... um... good with nature? I thought you would be a last resort."

"Wait," Bridgette climbed out of the tent's doors completely, now staring down Courtney instead of the borderline-reverse before. Courtney, in turn, stood up with pretty decent reflexes. "Why do you want to know where she is anyway? This isn't about your weird paranoia again, is it? I think this challenge is supposed to be an inter-team trust-building exercise for some reason, so you can tell me anything. I won't try to use it against you."

"It's not _paranoia_, it's - urgh, I told you, she wants to go after Katie and you, and Katie's gone, you are another big target, and who says that I won't be voted off next? After she proves me wrong, that she was capable of kicking both of you off? She might use that little scare tactac to go after me next! And it could work! And she thinks I have this big grudge against you for finding such a weird way to win the first challenge, and another one against Katie for making me lose my chance at getting second place and almost have to get voted off first because none of my bunkmates can recognize good leader fodder when they see one, even if it's shoved over their heads and presented right in front of them! I hate what Eva thinks of me, because I think that she's even worse!"

All Courtney got was a pretty deep intake for a reply.

"Bridgette?"

"Well... I always thought of you as... the kind to... be kind of more vengeful than necessary?"

"Vengeful? No, that's for physical violence. Even if that was true, which it isn't, you still used the wrong word."

"I mean, remember earlier when I kind of said that you were helping me get over my fear of being alone in the woods and you took that as me calling you annoying?"

"Like it happened two days ago."

"It did."

"Exactly! I have an excellent track of time! Which is why when I couldn't find Beth at the right meeting spot, I was _sure_ that it was because she hit the panic button before our aranged meeting."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: I kind of already told you this, but that was a lie. Stupid forest! Normally I have an even _better_ track of time!

* * *

><p>"Well, you still seem a little mad at that, even though we went through... uh... no, you went with Beth most of the time."<p>

"Because that was a little petty and selfish of you! And then you go on and say that you think this is supposed to be a trust-building exercise?"

"Well... no..."

"And don't bother pulling some excuse, like saying that you _really_ meant that you thought I would make a fun friend over this trip. This may sound unlikely to you, but I heard that one before. Plus, how could you get over a fear of being _alone_ in the woods if-"

"Okay, okay, okay. I... thought too fast. I judged you too fast. I thought too much of myself before I thought of you. I _was_ being a little selfish back there. I'm sorry for kind of calling you annoying."

Courtney froze from her current position of authority, starting to slink back into a blank-state, generic stance at those words.

"Wow." She said. "Usually I like it when someone admits that I was right, but... you know, I'm sorry too. I did keep that against me too much."

"You're admitting you were wrong too? That's... a little... mature."

"Well, what kind of a CIT would I be if I can't take critisism as much as _Ezekiel?_"

Bridgette shot up a hand to her mouth, trying to cover the following small laughs.

"Oh come on!" Courtney smiled herself, "Ezekiel will never know you found that funny! And even if he does, what can he do? He doesn't want to be like that Chris guy. And even if he was, you're one of his favorites, he would never do anything bad to you! For thinking he's a bad person!"

"He _is_ a pretty bad host." Bridgette said in between laughs. "But we don't have to worry about him in person until one of us pushes the panic button. What we have to worry about now is the challenge."

"For only one more day. After that is the tie breaker. I have no idea what that will be. So um... our system was good before... should we keep dividing our stuff like we did before?"

"No, you had a lot of help from Beth. And we needed to split a lot. But I think I have an idea, and this may work more now that we are the last campers in the challenge. Maybe."

"What is it?"

"We both play a little sudden death. Take our supplies, take down the tent, and see how long we can go solo."

Courtney only raised a brow.

"It will help the trust-building part! By going completely by ourselves this time, no sleeping under the same roof, no helping eachother pluck fruit, we'll see how much we really miss working together, and if one of us backs out, we can re-set the tent and spend the last hours back as a team! You don't know what you have until it's gone! What do you think? The other two teams seem to be gone so we don't have to worry about weakening ourselves while someone else lives in a better condition, and this is the best way I can think of to pass the time so..."

"That's actually a very good idea! Deal!"

They both shot back into their 3-day home away from 28-day home away from until-further-notice home. Naturally, the first thing they went after was the panic button.

"If it makes you feel better," Bridgette said, "I'll take this. Since I'm more likely to use it. After all, after thinking about it for two days... I don't think I got over my fear of being alone in the woods."

"That's the nicest thing anyone becides Beth ever said to me!"

Courtney suddenly stopped packing her supplies and frowned.

"Wow. Now that I think about it... that's kind of sad." She said, before resuming with a noticable lower surge of enthusiasm.

It was not much long before the tent was lying flat on the grass, Courtney packing up all of her food and supplies into a large sack that appeared to be made out of a collection of leaves, Bridgette using the same bag that each of the three teams were given out at first. As they head out, Bridgette gave one last bit before they parted ways.

"Courtney, don't take this the wrong way, but if you need to push the panic button, my spot will be along the river. I need to wash off all the sweat from last night. This heat wave is..."

"Oh." She started heading in a different direction, the angle from this one to Bridgette's being a lot less wide. "I was going to down to the stream that way, but that's downstream from you, and I don't want to fish in water someone else is bathing naked in-"

"I'm not doing it naked. I already got exposed two episodes in a row."

"-So I'm going higher up stream from you."

They continued either walk, and as soon as Courtney left her sight, Bridgette sighed.

"I can do this." She told herself, "I do not need the panic button..."

60:00:00.

"I NEED THE PANIC BUTTON! Where is it?"

Bridgette dove into the waters again, swimming to the opposite bank and scrambling her arms around the soil for any signs of anything man-made. She laughed once she felt her right hand brushing against something metal out of her sight - a head-turn confirming it to be her flashlight. This same hand grabbed it furiously, and she walked through the creek up to her bag and tried to turn it on.

Of course. The batteries were dead.

That idea failing, she decided to stick her entire head in along with one arm, trying her best to see through the darkness and find that switch. With that failing, she started swatting her hand around until she heard a buzz.

Bridgette sighed, which puzzled her since she soon saw feet by the bank of the river within the span of that sigh.

"Are you sure you want to quit?" The intern asked. "You only have 12 more hours to go!"

"Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes!" Bridgette cried, "I thought I could handle this, but all of this time, I... snapped! Ok?"

"Alright... I'll let Ezekiel know that you're panicing..."

* * *

><p><strong>(Woods Entrance)<strong>

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Ezekiel cried during his emergence from the forest, "After a few more days of wait than normal, I present to you... the results of the challenge!"

The previously-out contestants, Izzy, Kathy, and Justin were all gathered by this mild geographic border. Following him shortly was Courtney, not really being bothered by any of the roots and brush that she had to get through, and taking a relaxed breath with her arms crossed.

"In case some of you don't know, we had one Screaming Buffalo quit on the first night, then a Killer Jackrabbit on the second. This tied the game, and had the Pink Team continued for another day, I would have had to come up with a tie-breaker challenge!"

"Wait," Bridgette finally got into view, the sunlight now clearly illustrating what the ten hours alone did to her. Mud was splotted around in several spots, her TZ-bikini was raggy, still a little soaking, and a duller shade of gray, her eyes had dark bags, and her hair was no longer tied and stuck out in several spikes. "You mean you didn't even come up with one?"

"No. I thought nobody could make it this far. And I guess I was right. So, it's already night anyway, we don't really have to wait much before we get to the ceremony. Uh..." He scanned around. "No, wait, we do. Bridgette, I think you should probably hit the showers. Izzy... you too. Seriously Izzy, you stink eh. I don't know why, you're the only one who didn't go out camping."

"Do Izzy and I have to shower alone together?" Bridgette asked, yawning and leaning over.

"Oh. Huh. Um..." Ezekiel scanned the contestants again, sniffing the air in front of them. Then he sniffed by Courtney. Then he raised his own arm and sniffed under that. Finally, the host shrugged. "You might not like the idea, but the best one I have is if I shower with you. And slash or Eva. You can go one after another if you don't want either of us, but I would rather have you guys cut down the time before the voting ceremony. Because, one last time, this time the next challenge is literally the day after the ceremony."

"Well... with you there, you can help me keep Izzy from doing something stu...pid..."

She collapsed on the floor, causing the host to give a quick snap over to Courtney.

"How did you turn out _so_ well while she turned out _so_ wrecked?"

The CIT smiled. "I can show you after the next challenge."

* * *

><p><strong>(Flashback)<strong>

Courtney hummed a tune to herself as she wandered over to a two-story structure made of sticks, walking into the sole opening (not counting windows) with a bundle of even more sticks in hand.

"Aaaaand this should finish the foundation." She said, glancing over at a fire, with the fishing rods hanging a series of fish not-too-far above. "Oh. My fish is almost done."

The prep laughed a little on her climb up a ladder at the far end, looking around at a slightly more complete bedroom, notably holding a giant wooden bed with the initials "CIT" carved on its head. Its matress seemed to be made of a strange rectangle of dirt, the sheet leaves, and the pillow being her sleeping bag. She dove on this back-first.

"This is so much better than staying in that tiny tent."

* * *

><p><strong>(Shower)<strong>

"Okay, I'm done." Eva whipped a towel over herself. "Ezekiel, you probably shouldn't wear that hat with you. Bridgette, try to finish before Izzy, or else she'll do that thing you're worried about where she stalks you. She stalks me almost all of the time. Izzy, don't do anything stupid."

She stormed out, making sure to close the door. Both of the contestants and the single host looked over, watching her leave from the rather open shower room.

"I will not be seen without this toque in front of others!" Ezekiel cried to the door, "Maybe in my private showers, but not here! It's a proud Smithy mark!"

Lowering his voice, he brought his attention to Bridgette, trying his best not to look directly at her. He reached for a towel.

"I still can't believe you agreed to this. Especially because, unlike your traditional camping grounds, the showers here are all open and pretty... I don't know, high-quality."

"Anything that can convince you to take a shower."

"I shower twice a day!"

"Well-"

Izzy cut in, driving right into the same subject Bridgette was tip-toeing around. "You're doing something wrong then! And what are you doing with that towel?"

"I'm done too. I'm sure I did things right this time. Especially since you stopped pointing at certain parts going, '_that's_ the problem.' Bridgette, do you even know what that means?"

For what appeared to be the first time since the challenge ended, Bridgette smiled. "No, but now that this has cleared my head, I think I know what to do."

"Oh, game stuff." He wrapped the towel around his waist. "Well, Justin thinks I'm terrible at keeping secrets about things that aren't related to challenges. So to keep from listening in and risk giving your plans away to the other team and thus be a bias host, I'll leave it to you two. Bridgette, you should probably hurry up. Unless you want to be alone with Izzy."

"Actually, now I do. Because I just remembered something. And I think Izzy is the best teammate for it."

She perked up at that comment, just as Ezekiel flung himself out the door.

"Izzy," Bridgette continued, "Sadie wants to quit the game, but she doesn't. She's thinking of using this as a little... fail-safe. Where if we want to vote for her, then she's gone and is okay with that, but if we think she should stay, she'll keep playing."

"...And? You want me to make a choice with you?"

"Yes. If Sadie votes for herself, then she'll automatically lose, and I don't think Eva really... um... feels for her. I want you to help me make the tough decision, and vote her off with me. That's all."

Izzy nodded, giving her a thumbs up. "Of course I'll do that!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: Pfft! Psyche! I can't have Bridgette nag me into who to vote for or not, so I'm just sorta nodding my head and smiling and agreeing with her so that I don't have to deal with her right now! Now, if you'll excuse me... *rubs hands together* I have an Eva to deal with.

* * *

><p><strong>(Elimination Ceremony)<strong>

This marked the first time that the set up of the show staff was shaken a little. The usual of Ezekiel's place at the podium and Justin being the one to hold a plate of marshmallows stayed, except the first of the two now had Kathy by his side.

"Alright Screaming Buffalo, reunited at last... only to lose another one of your kind. Sorry, but if you would, reach under your bleachers and tap out who you want to kick out of your herd."

An atmosphere of general pleasantry occured, Izzy, Bridgette, and Eva all bearing different types of smiles as they pressed their option without hesitation. Sadie, the only one who paused, moved her finger around back and forth, before her press led to a fifth quick printing.

Ezekiel ripped this paper, and the second he read the results, he gasped so hard that the campers nearly worried he might pass out.

"Oh crap." Bridgette facepalmed. "I'm getting voted off."

"I-I-I-I didn't say that eh!" Zeksmit exclaimed, "All I did was gasp eh! This was a little... surprising. Eh. I'm mostly surprised at the fact that, um, Izzy," he yanked a marshmallow from Justin's plate and tossed it to said camper, "has no votes at all."

"But I had invincibility." She said. "Remember?"

"No..." The host stopped shaking at least, looking at the floorboards. "It's just that... the result kind of... Eva, you're safe too. With one vote. And... the final... marshmallow goes to...

...

...

...

...

...

"Aw screw it, you're right Bridgette. Sadie gets the last marshmallow, and you get... let's say, a 20 minute speech before leaving the game."

"HOW though?" Izzy shot up from her seat, looking around all of her teammates. This was such an outburst that the three members of the other team ran outside themselves, their clothes clearly hastily put on. For some reason, seeing this lightened Ezekiel's mood just a little, and he chuckled. Going back to Izzy after this, he only shrugged.

Eva looked over at Sadie, and the second her pupils were locked on her, it all became clear to the green-wearing contestant.

"YOU!" Izzy cried, pointing an accusing finger at her. Then at Sadie, following that with an "And _you!_ You must have cheated! Rigged the votes! Hacked the machine! Ezekiel! Kick one or both of them out, that's against the rules!"

"Is it okay if I tell them?" Eva said with a grin rivaling that of a shark. Sadie replied with a nod.

"You see, I think it's time to confess, mostly because you would find out after this anyway, and mostly because I'm tired of keeping this a secret. Sadie's my number one flunky now. I had her pretend to hate being on the game-"

"My nervousness over Katie helped." The sweet girl added.

"-So that Bridgette would feel sorry for her and want her voted off. So, because I knew that Izzy would only want to vote for me no matter how stupid the idea sounds-"

The second interruption was caused by Izzy. "That's because I thought at least Sadie would be on my side! I knew you had something with Eva, but this is a new low!"

"-And so that left her with one vote, and me with one vote. I just had an agreement with Sadie to vote for little Waterhead. Which, compared to convincing her to vote her own friend off, was pretty easy. That's it. No cheating involved. Just a simple little manipulation of mathematics. It's a really easy thing to do with such a small team. And now, we'll be even smaller. Watch your back, Izzy. You're next."

Beth slapped herself in the face. "Oh, that's _clever!_" She said. "Nice one- I mean, how terrible!"

"So, um," Ezekiel was clearly trying to perk himself up. "Bridgette, about that speech..."

"I don't need twenty minutes," she said, standing up. "I only need two. There's something I want to say. To Izzy."

Izzy perked up even quicker than Ezekiel. Her knees were swinging, her teeth and eyes flashed, and she held her hands together - just to drop everything after seeing Bridgette's look of disapointment.

"You lied to me."

"I-"

"You said that you will add another vote for Sadie. But instead you tried to pick at Eva. You had this sure option built on trust, and you threw it away for a shot to get rid of this girl that... well, plays better than you!"

And it was Izzy's turn to gasp.

"Well..." Bridgette continued, "She plays with real strategy. You just let revenge and hate take you over, to the point that you would rather trust someone who was _clearly_ working with Eva. I know Eva and Sadie probably don't care about this, so I am going to summarize everything and tell you straight. Actions based completely on revenge are _not a good thing!_"

This caused a rather interesting series of reactions. All three members of the Killer Jackrabbits started avoiding eye contact with eachother after that. Ezekiel's gaze quickly shot back down. Justin let a barely-audiable laugh escape. Eva clenched her fists and glared at her. And Izzy started feeling lighter.

"So..." the last one said, doubting if Bridgette would hear thanks to turning around and walking over to the black car. "You don't like me?"

This at least got Bridgette to stop her walk. Following a rather brutal, shivering pause, she said, "I try to like everybody. But you need to mature." before continuing.

Izzy lept off of the bleachers as she finally entered the car, Ezekiel flexing out his hands to indicate his kept-word. She belted out to the eliminated contestant, "Oh yeah? Well... you fell for Sadie's act! You're not so perfect or strategic either!"

On his own way to the car, Ezekiel was briefly paused by Kathy, who pointed in Bridgette's general direction.

"_Listen to her._" She said with her signature grin, "She makes sense."

"Yeah, yeah, do you want a drive to PDL or not?"

Her grin fell, as did any hint of anything supernatural in her tone. "I would rather walk."

Confirming what he said to himself in the last elimination, Ezekiel hopped into the driver's seat, and made his way, leaving the original intern driver in the back seat.

* * *

><p><strong>(Car of Failure)<strong>

"Look," Ezekiel tried to clarify, "Don't take anything I did while you were competing here the wrong way. You just reminded me of somebody I knew. You're like her, but actually nice and not a rival."

"You." Bridgette had her full attention to him. "Have a rival? Is it one of your EMDHS contestants?"

"Hey, you got the initials right! And no, it's not. She was hosting her own reality shows before I did. Her name is Blaineley."

"Wait, you knew _the_ Blaineley O'Halloran? The hostess of _Celebrity Manhunt_, _Rich Winners_, and the girl who saved that group of fifty trapped miners? Personally? As a _rival_?"

"I'm being way too nice to myself. Once upon a time, we were about equal in fame. Which is, to say, we used to be nobodies. And friends, with eachother and Geoff. Then luck favored her. She won some kind of randomly-picked contest, used the money to bribe her way into show buisness, and hosted like five shows at once. I was like, cool, maybe something can happen to me, eh. But I needed to live in the city. That's where all the big stuff happens. Problem, my house was in the middle of the country, the closest city... is kilometers away. I needed some money to actually rent an apartment there or something, so I thought I could do a little web thing where I proved or busted any paranormal activity. I was new to... being on anything screen-wise at the time. I didn't know it's been done. But at least I got to disprove one thing. Some ghost haunting some forest between my house and the city. It turns out it was just Kathy trolling any make-out teens. That's how we met!"

"What about Blaineley? Or Chris?"

"That was part of that. I sent in the film. That was a bad idea. Blaineley... just kind of turned on me, eh, saying that I'm not going anywhere. She thinks I can't even get a camera right! And unlike when I usually say that someone was being rude to me, Geoff and even _Kathy_ agrees with me. After that, she just started spamming me or something. Most of the time we talked, she bragged about being higher up in the stars. And even called herself that. The Red Star. That's when I thought I needed some of what she had too. A plan. A nickname. An appearance on real _television_."

"Your plan and appearance was to go on Chris's show, and the nickname bit is why you called yourself Zeksmit?"

"Close. My plan was to make a ton of web videoes. My nickname was the Teal Blaze."

"Why?"

"My first video after getting Kathy would have been about me setting my hair on fire."

Bridgette broke into laughter, stopping herself immediately after the outburst. Ezekiel did not seem to take offense. In fact, his smile grew.

"Laugh all you want, but that turned out to be my audition on _Extreme Musical Drama High School_. I thought, this was my big debut. You think you had it big when you appeared on the _news?_ Little known fact: Reality TV is all about the contestants! You may have been the subject of a quick little contest, but I'm a member of a _long-running, ongoing_ contest that's a lot more interesting! And _not_ luck-based! Or... so I thought, but we're not talking about Chris."

"No offense, but how long is this drive?"

"About an hour. Anyway, I guess that's why I'm so dissapointed that you didn't get to make it that far. You remind me of her, from the older days, before she let fame get to her head. Back when we made eye-contact at our actual levels, instead of her looking down on me and me looking up to her just to try to best her. No, seriously. She loved to jump up on something up high and cast me down when we talked, after she became famous."

Bridgette leaned back, looking at the car's roof. "Wow. I knew you for over two weeks and that is the first time I... get to see you as a real person? You were always this loud, larger-than-life host that could not stop talking. Now it's only after the show that I find out that you only try to be so large because your ex-friend makes you feel so small."

"She's not an **ex-**friend at all. Our rivalry is more of a playful thing, if Geoff stopped liking her and Kathy only knew her in her fame-crazy phrase so she never really liked her in the first place. It's really my issue with Chris that you should feel sorry for. But, anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I forgot the show!"

He turned to the active car camera. "We're nearing our halfway point in the game! What's next in store? Who will go home next? Will Izzy get to kick Eva's ass for pulling that stunt? Find out next time, on Total! Zeksmit! Plains!"

And after this, his attention went back to the eliminated contestant.

"So uh, now that you just sort of blew off Izzy... you think you and me..."

"I'm only into girls."

"Oh. Well, hypothetically, if you were into guys..."

"Ezekiel, please don't make me say it. I understand some of your life now, but that doesn't mean I still don't think you have some problems."

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Woods)<strong>

The car sped underneath an overlaying blanket of branches, one of which bearing the weight of two of Ezekiel's more active assistants.

"This really is nice." Justin said. "You should take me far out here more often."

"Why me?"

"The super speed really helps. You use that pretty well to mess with the campers. Especially Lindsay. Or, should I say," he giggled, "'Cutebutt?'"

"Say Lindsay. Coming up with Cutebutt was embarassing. But, I have to keep that to keep my character."

Justin sighed. "Messing with our boss is annoying."

"But we do it because of the last four words in your sentence. And he's misguided."

"Kathy."

"What?"

"Do you think _I'm_ misguided? I mean, I am trying to play around with the contestants for a stupid little bet."

She gave a dismissing wave. "No, you're fine. Sometimes playing with one's emotions is the best way to get something done. Like Eva. Don't tell Ezekiel I said this, but I admire her."

* * *

><p><strong>(Audition - Bridgette)<strong>

It began with her standing in a room, clad in a white dress with prints of light blue flowers, camera already adjusted.

"Hello - what was it - Smekzit? My name is Bridgette, and for my audition-"

"Boring."

She groaned as a younger girl - similar hair and eye color to her, ran across the screen, ripping the dress right off and exposing the also-light blue undergarments.

"Betty!" She cried, quick to cover herself. "Ezekiel, this is my youngest sister, Betty."

"We could be related, we could not, we were both adopted from the same orphanage and we look alike so... I don't know!"

The older one sighed. "This just means I need to do another take."

"I'm sorry, but no. I read your script - and you needed a script for playing your nose like an instrument? No. You need to appeal to the perverts more. You need more boobs in your audition! Send this, and thank me after it works."

Bridgette groaned as she reached to shut off the camera. "PS: I don't know why she thinks this. She was raised to be a good girl. So was I. And my older sister."

* * *

><p><strong>Votes:<strong>

Bridgette: Sadie

Eva: Bridgette

Izzy: Eva

Sadie: Bridgette

**Total:**

Izzy - Immune

Sadie and Eva - 1

Bridgette - 2

* * *

><p><strong>Teams:<strong>

**Screaming Buffalo:** Eva, Izzy, Sadie

**Killer Jackrabbits:** Beth, Courtney (Captain), Lindsay

**Eliminated:** Heather, Gwen, Leshawna, Katie, Bridgette

* * *

><p><strong>Closing AN:<strong>

And yes, the poles being used in a previous challenge was yet _another_ inside joke to myself about TFSP. I promise those will stop soon. Likely real soon. Since I'm just about out of them.

I think most of this chapter speaks for itself, but I will apologize for two things. One: Sorry if it focused too much on Bridgette (especially during her elimination, ironically, since I thought the chapter proper and the ones preceeding it didn't give her enough spotlight), and sorry if this tosses too much attempted drama and backstories at once, and not enough competition. Actually, I'm not so sure if I should be sorry for that one. TZ is supposed to be very character and backstory heavy (or not for the later one, this is more of a little experiment here), but there _are_ still planned to be elements of contestants playing the game and its high-stakes challenges. And speaking of which, the next chapter is surely to take a break from this and be a lot whackier than this. Oh, a third thing in the form of the length, but I already discussed that in the opening AN.

PS I've thought about changing Bridgette's audition. While it was a redo of her audition from the old version of this, it was also kind of written at the last minute (I was less than half-way finished with editting this on the day of its posting, it wasn't until late into the editting that I decided to have this out 4/13), and there's a few things I don't like about it the more I think of it. Some of those things, admitedly, being mild spoilers.

Next up: **Bears, Bares, and a Whole Lot of Flare**. Ezekiel merges the teams, makes everyone compete naked, and brings bears into the table in one of the more dangerous challenges of the game!


	6. Bears, Bares, and a Whole Lot of Flare

**Total Zeksmit Palins**

**Chapter 6: Bears, Bares, and a Whole Lot of Flare**

**Beginning AN:**

I believe at starting this after finishing chapter 5's rough draft, I have set a few records when it comes to TZP. One, being two chapters ahead when it comes to rough drafts - I started on this before I even published chapter 4 (though not because of 4 itself, instead because I would really rather fix up the first three chapters before bumping this back to the first page in TD's listing, but in turn I really didn't want to dig through the first three chapters (I _loathe_ the first three chapters of this. I'll explain more in the closing notes) so I decided to go ahead instead). Two, I think chapter 5's the fastest time I ever finished a rough draft of this. And a final draft. Which is impressive, because it's a lot longer than all of the other chapters before it yet it was done in a little over a month. Three, as said before, the fifth chapter is the longest individual chapter of anything I have _ever_ written so far. This is not a good thing. I think the majority of chapter 5 was kind of boring. And four, this marks the first time I have ever made it up to the merge - _any merge_ for that matter - when writing this, which normally wouldn't be such a big deal, if it wasn't for _Total Fan Service Plains_ going up to chapter 7 out of 20 (10 being the merge).

Anyway, with Bridgette gone just after she started showing her darkest signs of Writer's Pet Syndrome, and the challenge being considerably more lighthearted and full of action than the camping, here's hoping that this chapter will be slightly better! And yes, I still stand by my enthusiasm when it came to chapter 5. It's just whether or not _you_ like it, or think that it gave certain characters way too much screentime.

**Keep reading after the audition and stats!** There's a little something after the closing note, that is part of the story and... well, it's nothing plot-_critical_ and skipping it (by forgetting about this very paragraph or just chosing to ignore then AN as a whole) won't rob anything of an explanation, but it's a nice little preview of what's to come.

* * *

><p><strong>(Killer Jackrabbit's Cabin)<strong>

"Ezekiel _cannot_ be this unoriginal!"

Courtney cried, brushing her hands around through the cabin. She groaned, standing her naked self back up and not caring if her other two cabin-mates heard how loud she was being.

"He stole our clothes _again!_" She added. "The one time we sleep naked, thanks to that stupid heat wave that just gets worse. Beth, when you tagged out, did you also sleep naked? I didn't, needing to keep myself alert out there in the woods in case something tore down my tent. Or, later, my house."

Beth shrugged, as nude as Courtney was. "He might not have ran out of ideas. I mean, thinking about last challenge with all of his supplies, I think he plans everything ahead of time. Maybe he just wants another costume-specific challenge, and he thinks this is the best way to start them. I mean, our last costume challenge had little to do with the costume. Maybe this is something new."

"Actually Beth, our last costume challenge was the _cosplay_ one. PS, I blame you for teaching me that word." Beth frowned. "In a friendly way. And in that challenge, we were allowed to get dressed first."

The last contestant in the room was not visible, instead only showing herself as a large lump in her covers. "I don't know who to blame more, the heat, or Ezekiel. I mean, if the heat was less bad, I wouldn't have had to give up wearing one of my headbands. But if Ezekiel didn't do the thing, then I could just reach over and put on my headband."

Both of her roommates looked in her direction, asking quick questions. Courtney's was "So," and Beth's was "The headband makes things hotter?"

"I can't be seen without something in my hair! I look terrible!"

"Not even in front of us?" Beth asked. "Come on, Lindsay, we're both girls too."

"And your closest friends not counting Sadie." Courtney added. "Beth, that part matters. Trust me."

"No! I would rather go out like this!"

Beth and Courtney looked at eachother, the latter speaking first.

"I fell asleep before I even noticed she didn't wear a kerchief. Did you see what she looks like? Oh, and technically, it's called a kerchief. A headband is something else."

"Actually, after taking everything _else_ off, she ducked under the covers and then her hand stuck out, taking that blue bandana out by sliding her hand from under it and to the dresser. She slept like this all night, I think."

"Lindsay," Courtney said after nodding to Beth, "You have to come out pretty soon. Our challenge is set to start..." she peered out the window, while Beth just looked over at a clock. "In less than an hour. I do not want Justin to blare on those speakers again to try to shove us out of bed. Especially naked like this."

"But... I can't be-"

"Then just wear the covers over your head!" Beth suggested, getting off of her bed and making her way to the door. Courtney followed, her eyes still looking back in Lindsay's direction.

"Say," Beth said to the other present contestant, "Bridgette was Ezekiel's kind of crush. You don't think that, now that she's gone, Ezekiel's gonna be meaner on us, is he?"

"Pfft. I think we should be worried more about whether or not he's gone crazy."

They exited the door way, first looking to see that all three of the remaining Screaming Buffalo were standing out at their cabin's porch equally nude, looking at something on the grass in front of them. All it took was a simple turn, and soon Beth and Courtney got a way too clear view at what they were looking at.

Ezekiel, wearing nothing but a grin and his usual teal toque. His hands were placed firmly against his hips.

"Good morning, campers!"

*Cue intro.*

* * *

><p>"You see," Ezekiel said, "I knew about this heat wave weeks before the game began. I know about the weather of this place. I know just about everything, so while this may be new to all of you, it still feels like I'm walking around in my own home."<p>

"I see." Courtney said.

"So last night, during the ceremony, when the ex-members of the Killer Jackrabbits came walking out looking like they just put their clothes back on, I knew at least all three of you were sleeping in the nude. And so you were a little bit prepared for this idea. Izzy, I hope you spend your time this episode well, because this is _Total Zeksmit Plain_'s naked challenge! The one and only challenge where Izzy, you are allowed to be naked by your own choice! Except... uh... not really. Since you're forced to go out naked."

"You know what would make this better?" Beth asked, leaning over the railing.

"Better?" Courtney objected. "Better implies that this was a good idea to begin with. It is not!"

"Justin."

Ezekiel's grin fell. "Yeah, yeah, Justin's nude too. And so are the interns in here. Just not the elimianted contestants, or Geoff, or anyone back there. Which, by the way, includes Kathy. She has a strict list of camera time appearances for some reason, and this episode isn't one of them."

"WOO-HOO!" Izzy cheered, leaping off of the railing and running close by Ezekiel. "I like this challenge already! So... what's the challenge?"

He snickered, then made a clearly fake gasp. "First though, you're all naked! Totally indecent! You should cover up before someone sees you!"

"Okay," Eva broke in, "Now you're just making me mad."

"The tops of your heads are bare!" He continued, "You need these!"

"Oh." The buff one said. "I see where this is going. You're not just rubbing this in like a little jerk, you want us to-"

"Wear these!"

Quicker than the rate any of them could question how Ezekiel managed to work his fitting skills, he reached under his hat and pulled out six more copies of it, each of which bearing colors that matched the original bikinis of the remaining campers. He tossed them out accordingly.

"Before I get to the challenge," he said, "Let me explain the top gimmick here. These are your toques. They are just like mine, since I actually bought them at the same shop. I take special care and put a ton of effort not to let the little fella fall off. It means a lot to me. It's a sign of the Smithy family, just as much as these very camp grounds."

"But I thought you just said you bought it at a store." Courtney said, fitting her gray hat on.

"I did! At a special _family_ store!" He tossed the last hat in his hands, the orange one, into the Killer Jackrabbit's cabin. Lindsay _finally_ made an appearance soon after, taking special care to adjust the toque. "Anyway, I want you to treat them the same way I treat mine. Don't let them fly off of your head. And to convince you to do that, if that happens, you will be out for the challenge. Unless you can grab a hold of it before it touches anything else, and put it back on your head."

"Oh! Oh! Ooooh!" Sadie cheered, "The team captain nominating! I just remembered! Our old captain, Bridgette, lost, so can I nominate Eva?"

"And can I nominate myself?" Eva herself said. "I mean, being the team captain should make this feel a little better."

"What is our challenge?" Lindsay asked, putting her arms around Beth and Courtney. (Beth accepted, but Courtney was clearly trying to slip her way out.) "Because we've just realized how important it is that we, the Killer Jackrabbits, act as a team! And we-"

"The teams are merged from here on out." He broke in. "I'm sorry to say this since you seemed to be finally getting along with Beth and Courtney, but they're merged."

"Wh-wha... what does that mean?"

"Well it may sound like you're all one team, but if anything it's the opposite. It means that the teams do not apply anymore. It's like the very first challenge, where each camper goes for herself, and everybody except those who win the challenge - again, _for herself_ - has a shot at being voted off. I thought I explained this to you."

Lindsay unhanded Beth and Courntey, taking a deep breath in. "Wow, what a shame." She said, "It didn't even feel like we were on teams that long."

"That's what you get when you do a season as short as this! Anyway, as individuals, you can pick whichever cabin you want to sleep in-"

Sadie's eyes started sparkling at that comment. Trying to keep herself bunched together, she finally let out a squeal and charged her way down the stairs. Once she reached the grass, Ezekiel laughed at this, with Sadie's former teammates only staring in confusion. And Courtney staring in horror.

Within seconds, Sadie was already up the other cabin's stairs, embracing all three of the campers there with a group hug.

"EEEEEE!" She cheered, "No offense Eva, but I would really rather stay here with these guys! Oh, Beth and Lindsay, it felt like a forever since I could sleep with you! And Courtney! ...You might be fun too!"

"Um," Lindsay said, "We did sleep together-"

"But that was in a tent! This is back in the cabins! The bigger leagues! And instead of just two of us, we'll be a group of four-"

"Ahem. Could that be five?"

Sadie turned to see that Izzy had ninja'd her way to the other cabin's front, holding her hands behind her back and grinning sheepishly.

"Sure!" She said, with Courtney drawing the attention of the four locked in-hug back to her to make her point across.

"She can sleep with us, but do not let her join our group hug!" Was her protest. "It's bad enough that we're all sort of being crushed together while naked and only wearing Ezekiel's hat with Ezekiel himself and Izzy and Eva watching, it will be even worse if we just toss in a girl who probably paints with blood! That's where I draw the line."

Ezekiel scratched his head. "You must be drawing the line diagonally or something. But that's enough of how a _merge_ works. Let me show you your first merge _challenge_." He started walking. "You'll have to follow me out in the prairies, you probably won't believe me."

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Open Plains)<strong>

One of five bears gave a hearty roar into the air, standing up on its hind legs over the rest of its crowd.

"Don't worry, they're trained!" Ezekiel called to the campers. "You see, this challenge will sort of involve riding bears. I say sort of, because I only had five bears and there's six of you, so replacing the climb up the drop-side of the Zekitunakwa cliff will be a little 'pre-challenge' to see which of you does not get to ride a bear."

"You should hope it's not me." Izzy commented, "I can talk to them after all. If I win, I'll be your worst nightmare."

He looked over at the maze, pointing to it and getting the contestant's gazes to follow. "That's your first stop. I'll give you paintball guns just like the ones from the first challenge, and you have to sneak around shooting at _eachother_. The catch is, simply hitting another camper will do nothing. You can paint as many butts green as you see, but it does not count as an elimination unless someone's hat gets shot off. I disabled the showers, so the more you're hit, the more visible of a target you'll be unless you can find a more out-of-the-box way to get rid of the paint, eh.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: On one hand, this is unbearably humiliating. On the other... *rubs hands together* I've been waiting to actually _use_ one of those paint guns ever since Ezekiel revealed them as the intern's weapons. And I have a reason to feel good for getting this far in the game. I can finally be on the _offensive_ side again...

Courtney: My boyfriend probably doesn't think anything between me and Justin is going on. I... can _try_ to cement this with this episode. He will be tempted by Lindsay and... if you want to dig deep, Izzy, but at the same time he'll know what it sort of feels like being around a naked Justin. Even though I could see everything, and he can't. And neither can you, whoever's watching this.

Izzy: I love the idea of the merge already. I can't be slowed down by my stupid teammates anymore, I can take matters into my own hands, and since there's more people up for elimination again, I can form bigger alliances and I have bigger numbers to make on my side! The nudity is a cool bonus! And believe me, if Eva's trick was any sign, I'm better at doing that than she is.

* * *

><p><strong>(Maze Center)<strong>

"Ten second head start, yo." Ezekiel said, "When I say 'go,' walk out and try to get as far away from eachother as possible. Then, after ten seconds, I'll yell SHOOT through this megaphone to let you know that you can start shooting. Oh, and if you're thinking of playing chicken; as soon as we stepped in here, I had some interns close all three exits with bar gates, so you cannot go outside the arena and continue the match there. It was actually Justin's idea. I would have had you just do the match all over the campsite, but Justin would rather keep from having to clean up anything he doesn't knock over. And with that added, I am also sort of stuck here while the game goes on, and I will spend my time sitting in this center room reading."

Raising even more questions about his organization, he plucked a pretty thick book out from under his hat, sitting by the corner and flipping his new object to a bookmarked page.

"Go." He said, far more casually than usual.

Just one second. The other five have scurried away, with the last camper casting a shadow over him. He looked up, partially concerned, to see Eva there, aiming her gun at him.

"There's no rule that says we can't shoot _you_, is there?"

* * *

><p>Breathing heavily, Lindsay turned herself down one fork and pasted her back against a wall, watching as Courtney darted past in a blur. She heard Ezekiel crying "SHOOT!" followed by the sounds of some shots, followed by Ezekiel's voice again, this time making grunts. "Not my hat!"<p>

She froze up when she noticed a gun pointing right at her toque.

"Bang." Izzy said, giggling. "See, that's how easy it is for me to get you eliminated. Now, if we form a little _alliance_-"

Lindsay dropped to Izzy's feet. "I'll do whatever you say! As long as I don't get my hair exposed without something in it!"

"Good. I want you to help me go after Eva."

"Eek!"

"Shh! Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds."

"But this is sudden death!"

"If we go in _together_, then Eva will be after me. All the pressure will be off you. And even if it isn't, I'll still try to take the dive for you. After all, that's what a true ally does."

"How do we even find Eva?"

Izzy shrugged. "Listen for Ezekiel's screams?"

Just after saying that, the host was seen by the pair flying down the maze - mostly covered with green - by a chasing Eva.

"Wow, you were right." Lindsay said. "Is there anything else we should listen for?"

"Nope."

Izzy and Lindsay both froze at that, because by then Eva was facing them directly. Both of them soon got their own guns ready, aiming at her in defence.

"Y-y-y-you're bluffing!" Izzy cheered. "There's no way you could not have wasted all of your ammo on Ezekiel!"

"Do you really want to take the chance?"

They spun, only to learn in the hardest way imaginable that Eva had also gotten Beth and Courtney ambushed. Likely by accident. Both of them had their hands up.

"The only reason why I haven't shot you yet is because I can't decide who I hate more! I mean, Lindsay, Izzy, you're both annoying and I don't want either of you to win invincibility, and that already makes it a tough choice. But Beth? _Courtney?_ Both of you running down the hall right into my... is it even a trap? Seriously, this sounds way too good to be true. I would even say it's a setup."

"It is!" Sadie's voice was heard from around the corner, making the group of four chill even more. "But one started by... well, on your side!"

Eva pulled the trigger, making all four of the campers caught in-between flinch at the possibilities.

While it _was_ one of them, Izzy was the only one that considered Eva running out of paint to be a possibility. And that seemed more like wishful thinking at the time.

While Lindsay, Beth, and after a bit of withholding Courtney were busy laughing at this, Izzy took advantage by spinning around and giving her own, definitely-working shot to Sadie, aiming right at the toque and knocking it clean off.

It did not take long before Ezekiel walked in, panting from exhaustion, to announce what just happened.

"O...kay." He said. "We've had our first elimination. Now if you will, we can just go back... out to the prairies... for the next part of the challenge."

As he led them through the maze, Courtney marched straight up to Izzy's side.

"What did you do that for? You had a clear shot at Eva!"

"Now that I think about it, this isn't the kind of way I want to best her. I need something a lot more hand-to-hand. But hey, you can't hate me completely, at least I stopped her ally from doing anything!"

"Sadie doesn't need to be on the challenge to do anything!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: If there is _one_ thing I like about Izzy, it's that she gets herself voted off! *Laughs.* This is too good, just _too good._

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Open Plains)<strong>

"Everyone except Sadie," Ezekiel said, "I present to you, the moment you've all been waiting for! Well... only the moment Izzy and Eva have been waiting for. And maybe Courtney."

"You were right about that." Courtney shrugged.

"Actually, no." Beth cut in. "I think this could be interesting too!"

"Okay. Everyone except Sadie and Lindsay then." He said, laughing as the now-sole blonde frowned. "The next part of the challenge is to ride one of these through four different brutal mini-challenges. And we're not moving from one of them to the next until one of you finally gets your hat knocked off. Justin, care to explain what our ladies will face today on bear-back?"

The previously-absent co-host finally made his debut this episode in the form of a sudden, blaring helicopter hoving mere yards from the seven. The passenger's door opened, and sure enough, the person standing there had nothing on but a burnt sienna toque, a grin with almost the same enegy as Ezekiel's, and two handfuls of confetti. He lept off, flipping through the air, plunging his feet down for a stronger landing, and flicking the confetti into the air.

Naturally, this was to the delight of Lindsay, Beth, and Sadie, and they made it audiobly clear in the form of some pretty loud squeals.

"I WOULD LIKE TO ONCE AGAIN WELCOME YOU ALL TO THE MERGE!" He cheered. "You survived the first half of our challenges, and just begun the second! So, without further ado of trying to top Ezekiel's way of introducing you to the merge-"

He looked at his feet. Izzy took advantage of this unusual pause to speak directly to Ezekiel, if in the form of a semi-secretive whisper.

"Hey. This dude does not stop insulting you, does he?"

"He's just jealous." Ezekiel did not keep his volume at the same level as Izzy.

"Why don't you fire him?"

"Because he voluntarly took on _so many jobs_ and he's good at all of them!"

"My toe!" Justin cried, bringing his left leg up and wrapping both of his hands around the foot. "My big toe! I think I bruised it in the fall! I knew this was a bad idea!"

"Well..." Ezekiel continued, "He's good at most of them."

"I don't think I can continue hosting the challenge with you!" He said while hopping on his remaining foot. "I have to keep up a good image! Especially when I'm wearing nothing but a hat, and can't use clothes to try to sharpen up how I look. My toe will stick out if I keep standing by you!"

"Um, speaking of things that stick out, nobody's going to be looking at your _toe._" Eva said with a surprisingly neutral look.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: I think this is staged. Ezekiel's teasing the fangirls by promising them a naked Justin, only for him to sit out less than a minute later and we have to still deal with more of Ezekiel's hairy Dracula butt.  
>Eva: *Smirks.* ...I like what he's doing. Anything to kill those girl's ideas.<p>

* * *

><p>"Can you at least tell them what their bear-riding challenges will be?" The homeschooler pleaded with him.<p>

"Of course:

"First, our Legendary Dire Tire Fire Mire! Disclaimer Ezekiel names these things and not me. Over there, you will see a huge set of tires on a slope. None of them are lit on fire, obviously, otherwise animal rights activists would sue Ezekiel right through his butt. If they can get through all the hair, of course."

The slope itself looked like it was made of mud boxed in via some supporting wood.

"They still might just because you're riding on animals," Ezekiel cut in, "You really can't win with them. But it is a bit of a mire though! There's a ton of mud garunteed to give your bear a little more struggle. And because they're putting just a little more effort into moving, expect that sudden move to be the thing to throw your hat off!"

"Right..." Justin continued, "After one of you loses that, the final four will go to the Great Fan Plantation! Can you last being in this square arena while huge fans blow deathly winds at you?"

"Actually, that sounds like a _good_ thing." Beth said, looking with the other campers at the circle bordered by flowers with, as advertized, had four colossal fans in a square formation. All facing the center and blowing air, making a large X. "This heat wave is killing me! And I think it's killing Lindsay too."

"Yeah, but not when it costs you your chance at solo invincibility." Justin laughed, whiched caused him to briefly lose his balance. "Anyway, up next, as you'll see on the top cliff, there's a large square cage. It's on wheels. This is where your third battle - fourth counting the paintball run - will be. The Cage of Freedom! Which is named that because the cage itself is free - free to run down the cliff side!"

The campers gasped, which caused a short "Hey! You're in the merge now eh, what do you expect?" from Ezekiel.

"D-d-don't worry!" Justin reassured. "Because we have three parachutes hooked in it and a safe pillowy landing at the base of the cliff! And there's a safe escape lock, so you can actually open it at any time! This part of the challenge is about trying to get through your fears. And you might subconciously think that there _isn't_ any safe stopping of any kind, since the giant cushion is kind of hard to see until you're about to crash right into it. It's like what Kathy said earlier, something something... about fear. And finally-"

"Is the last one in the woods?" Izzy asked.

"Nah, we've been there too many times already." Ezekiel briefly took over once more, counting the following list on his fingers. "_Blast to and From the Past_, the fourth part of _Cosplay Roughplay_, _Pairing is Caring_ was all about that... oh. I'm sorry, those are the names of the episodes. If I didn't say that, that would have not made sense until they start airing. But about the woods being involved in challenges, three in a row is pushing it. In fact, we'll only go back there once again, and it's not gonna be for a long, _long_ time."

"Your last challenge," Justin finished, "F-f-for the day, will be back at the cabins! Our interns and I _should_ have a bridge built by then. And you have to avoid falling off _or_ losing your hat. Again, we'll use that cushion from the Cage of Freedom and flip it sideways to protect any serious injury. It's pretty ordinary otherwise-"

"Does the bridge get a fancy name?" Izzy cut in once again.

"Actually, yes." Ezekiel clapped. "It's called the Bridge of the Fives. Because the one who conquers it, and the whole challenge, will make it into the final five! So let's begin! Pick out your bear!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: I knew a good bear or two from my life. And I can tell Ezekiel doesn't. These look weak. They all do. Hopefully my strength will make up for it. Especially since Sadie can't help me now.

* * *

><p><strong>(Legendary Dire Tire Fire Mire)<strong>

"Wait!" Ezekiel cried, running closer to the slope with a suitcase in hand. "Before you begin, you're probably wondering, 'What eh? Do we have to use the bears to knock eachother's hats off? Can that even work?'"

They were all lined up at the beginning of the 'mire.' Everyone who still had a bear decided to sit on it - Izzy holding up her fists dearly, Eva flexing with pride, Beth giving careful examination to the tires, Courtney taking a deep breath out, and Lindsay shivering with energy. Sadie could only stare at the muddy formation with an expression blanker than printing paper.

"None of us are wondering that." Courtney said, "Because none of us say '_eh._'"

Snapping his fingers, Ezekiel continued. "Well, Eva, Izzy, these should look familiar. Sadie, you too but... I'm sorry."

The sole camper not on a bear frowned.

"Say hello to the return of the Battle Poles! And the introduction, for our former Killer Jackrabbits!"

He propped the case open, predictably revealing five of the objects from the last challenge. Tossing the navy and green ones to Eva and Izzy, he juggled around the gray, orange, and jade ones first.

"I _just_ realized that we don't really have any _yellow_ yellow in our color lineup. Meh, here." He tossed them to their designated matching owners. "Okay, are you all steady on your bears? Because um... I don't know, if someone falls off, there's a penalty. I just need to think of one-"

A radio by Ezekiel's side was heard giving a loud click. Following that was Justin's voice.

"If someone falls off and another camper's hat is knocked off before they get back on, then the person who fell off - first, if more than one are down at the same time - automatically loses."

"Alright, thanks Justin for clearing that up, ladies, you may be-"

"Oh, and try not to make the bears do all the work. They're just there to move around and make the battles flashier."

"-Begin!"

After saying this, he picked up the radio and shook it with a hand a few times.

"Justin, don't interrupt me like that!"

The comment was just after the contestants had already made their way up the muck, most of them cluelessly directing the bears to a higher point, and at many times the bears were surprisingly understanding of what they wanted.

Eva was naturally the first to claim the top, with Izzy following right behind her.

"Hey! Eva Sneeva Shedevileva!" The latter shouted, "Don't think that Bridgette's speech before she left means that I'll stop trying to kick you off!"

She jabbed her pole out, making Eva briefly lose balance. After this short moment of surprise, she combatted with nothing but a grin.

"Really? Then why didn't you shoot my hat off back when you had the chance?"

"We both know I didn't have the chance. Oh, and to make your elimination from the challenge more epic."

"Both of them are true. If you replace 'your' with 'my.'"

"Yes, Eva, _your_ elimination. Not mine-"

Eva's bear leaped up from the mud, briefly hopping on a series of tires and tackling Izzy's own animal with enough force to send them both near the edge. Two grips later, and soon the strong girl's beast was pushing on to that of Izzy's, trying to shove both of them off.

"Give up and you won't die." She said. Izzy laughed in response.

"Your bluff doesn't scare me! I know Ezekiel would never allow a camper to get killed!"

Below, Courtney watched on Beth and Lindsay with increasingly closed and/or twitching eyes.

"Okay!" Beth cried, "Fine! Call what I did the last three days mixed signals! I just forgot that you were actually the biggest hater of my biggest friend, and I only saw you as the biggest friend back then!"

"I will! But I still don't hate you!"

"Of course you do! You still don't seem to like Courtney that much-"

"But it's still something!"

"It might be, at least you _listen_ to her now, but you still seem to think of her as... as... I don't know!" She turned to the third party. "Courtney, can you help me out here?"

One swipe of a gray pole later, and Beth's hat was swiftly knocked onto the ground. Higher above, Eva continued to make her bear push on that of Izzy's even after Ezekiel blew a whistle.

"A-okay!" He laughed, "Looks like Beth will be joining Sadie, and that leaves us to our next challenge! Eva, you can stop trying to shove Izzy and a bear off of a cliff."

As directed, Eva whistled, and the bear stopped attacking its rival. She glared, both at Ezekiel, then at Izzy.

"You got lucky. You know, if I was allowed to bring my own bear, I'll pick one that can tear both your's and you in half."

Izzy laughed. "If you could bring your own bear, than so could I! And trust me, I have this one-of-a-kind _doosy_ I know about. Some kind of freakish mutated thing that battled a genetic experiment! The bear lost but I'm sure it still has a lot of revenge left in it!"

With another command, Eva's own furry vehicle launched itself off of the high edge of the mud-triangle, while Izzy walked down to the former Killer Jackrabbits in a far more calm manner. Just in time for the shock of being eliminated to wear off on Beth.

"What did you do that for?" She cried.

"I am getting sick of this. Beth, you should know better. When someone wants a second chance, you at least try to see if they mean it. Shunning Lindsay off and suddenly thinking that Sadie was right and you should start hating her is a _bad move._"

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, I wanted a second chance, and you did not pull a one-eighty on giving _me_ one, did you? No. Or should I say _not yet?_"

"No..."

Lindsay started to laugh, but was quick to stop when Courtney turned her way next.

"And you..."

After moving closer, she gave Lindsay a small pop on the shoulder.

"That's for hitting me back in the cosplay challenge. Now we're even. It does not feel good when you stop thinking that you're poplar, does it?"

"Well... I have... Izzy... working... with me."

"Pfft. That nutjob? The day one of her plans works is the day I light myself on fire, because any world where she makes sense is not a world I want to live in."

Izzy cleared her throat, which got nothing.

"I'm standing right here! In case you didn't know!"

"Yeah, and if you want to try to tell me that your 'brilliant' revenge schemes will work, then run that through _Bridgette_ first."

The redhead frowned.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Beth: Some of the things Courtney said made sense, but did she _really_ have to eliminate me? I mean, she could have gone after Lindsay instead... no offense... just saying...

Courtney: You know, I wanted to do that since she hit me, but we were on the same team, and that would lead to inter-team fighting. And that's bad. Now that the merge hit, she's more of fair game without the responsibility of keeping a group together and... *giggles,* _wow_, I'm already at the _merge!_ It feels like this game started yesterday, but I'm halfway done!

Izzy: That was a low blow! ...Mostly because it's true. But it was still a low blow!

* * *

><p><strong>(Great Fan Plantation)<strong>

Eva was the first to set down her glass, empty, with five glasses filled of varrying amounts of lemonade following.

"It sure was nice of Ezekiel to give us this for the heatwave." Beth said. "Or did he do this because he knew he was gonna be late and he wanted to make up for it?"

"He could be tricking us." Izzy laughed, "Giving us a lot of liquid so that we'll have to pee sooner. It makes the challenge harder, and it can appeal to the perverts! There's this fetish that-"

"HEY LOOK IT'S HIM!" Eva cried, pointing over to four figures shady from both the heat and the current distance they were at. Upon getting closer, he seemed to be giving the radio an irritated look.

"Sorry about that, eh." He said, "Justin wanted to talk to me personally. Beth, Sadie, here, you can talk to him while you watch the other contestants. He says he wanted to 'chat' with you."

He looked around, three following nude interns turning on the giant fans as they walked in a square and dropped one off for each. Once Ezekiel himself bent over near the one facing the campers (causing them all to cringe and lean back), Sadie spoke up.

"Don't you usually have more than three interns to do stuff like this? Because... well... I would rather be mooned by someone else."

"They're out building the bridge for the final challenge. I thought it would be cool if we kept it not-there so that you couldn't get a good look at it until we go all the way back to the cabins at the end. But, you know, during breaks between challenges, if you want to go to the confessional or get something from your cabins or pee or whatever, then go ahead and look at the WIP with all the naked guys and girls hammering things in."

"Well you're wrong about Sir Butthair." Eva said with a small eye-move to Izzy's direction.

"Wrong about what?"

"You might not want to know." Courtney said, getting into the middle of an edge while the other remaining four campers mimicked. "But what you should know is that having interns work on a project on the roofs of some shabby wooden cabins with no protective gear or even clothes at all is really dangerous, right?"

"Again, we still have the matress there. It may only be one matress, but we're twisting it and bending it and... this is a very economical show. Once we move that matress to the end of the Cage of Freedom's course, I'll put the interns on a brief hold until the next- oh, I'm sorry, the challenge after that _is_ the Bridge of the Fives. So I guess they're done once somebody loses this challenge?" He slapped his own face. "Wow, I'm bad at planning. But since you're already ready, you all seem to be really good at it! And since you're all into position...

"BEGIN!"

Izzy once again took the direct route to charge towards Eva, which gave her the reaction of rolling her eyes.

"You do realize that there's only so many of the _other_ campers to eliminate eachother before I knock you off the bridge, right?"

Izzy directed her bear to stop. And it wasn't because she had just dashed into the fans, and had the shock of needing to use a hand on her hat. Tapping her chin with her free hand several times second after second, she looked over at Beth and Sadie, clearly amussed at the radio.

Shrugging, Izzy dashed in the direction the fan she was in blew, towards a more aggressive pole-fight between Lindsay and Courtney.

"Hey!" The latter cried, "This is... we should really work against Eva."

"But it's every camper for herself." Lindsay said, not noticing Izzy's arrival. "So when you came over to me, I thought you wanted to fight. After all, I don't want to cross those fans, and that could blow off my hat, and that could show what my hair looks like without anything in it."

"...And?"

"It looks really lame."

"Hey, I think we're on the same side here." Izzy cut in, this time getting the attention of the pair. "So um... we should... work... together? The three of us?"

What followed was Courtney essentially trying to interrupt a nod from Lindsay.

"Wait. I don't trust Izzy for anything. I wouldn't even lend her a pencil! And you want me to lend her the power of numbers? Look Lindsay, I want to be your friend, but I think you should take anything _Izzy_ says with... well, just pretend she's not even here. We need to look for Eva, and that should be our number one priority."

"But... where is she..." Lindsay's eyes darted to Eva's starting corner. "I can't see her-"

"I'M RIGHT HERE NOW!"

Eva's voice was so loud and powerful that it nearly cut threw the fan's own currents. Naturally, Lindsay swung her pole around in an arc after hearing it, Eva managing to lean out of the way, Izzy ducking, and Courtney backing up. The latter grabbed onto the ears of her bear, a movement that caused it to lean back - and launch foreward right after.

The launch not just sending Courtney foreward, or just her and her bear, but Eva's hat as well. With the stab of a pole, the navy garment fell off, and Courtney's eyes widened almost instantly after.

"Yes!" She cheered, Lindsay looking down and smiling too. "We did it!"

Izzy, on the other hand, shook her head, an action which the host was quick to explain.

"Nope! Courtney, you're out."

"Wh-what? How did that happen? I mean, I still have my-"

She put a hand to the top of her head, and froze when all she felt was hair.

"When Eva's trick to Lindsay made your bear lean back, you leaned into the fan's current. Your hat fell off before you even got the chance to strike Eva. Sorry, but Eva's hat-loss means nothing eh."

"But wait!" She jumped off of her bear and held both of her palms out, as if to visualize that this was a defense. "All you said before the challenge began was that if we lose the hat, then we lose the challenge. So does this mean that Izzy and Lindsay will skip the cage thing because Eva's the next one voted off. I lose, I'll accept that, but Eva-..."

"You know what? Normally I'll try to say something reasonable, but if that fails then Justin will be by my side, so I'll just say this: You know what I mean. You have to lose the toque in a _challenge_. I don't like Eva either, but that kind of cheap reasoning is the exact kind of thing Chris-"

She crossed her arms. "Yeah yeah yeah, loopholes bad Chrissy stuff, the obvious good Ezekilly stuff. But can I at least try to contest that?"

"Do you _want_ me to get Justin to make another big speech? I don't think any of the three of us would want that. Justin, because it would mean going outside with his 'horrible' bruise. Me, because Justin would probably complain a lot. And you, because he'll just prove you wrong."

"Maybe he should try his 'big speech' against my _lawyers_."

Ezekiel laughed. "Really? You didn't like the fact that I gave you obvious, fair directions instead of twisting them around by the word? Seriously, it's just a game. No need to be a sore loser about it. Becides, someone could easily do that _against_ you. It's best to just stick to what's understood, eh."

At the words 'sore loser', Courtney flinched as if Ezekiel pulled a gun on her. Which, considering his current attire, would have been an especially odd sight.

As the pale host walked around to switch the giant fans off, Eva looked over at Courtney, then Ezekiel, and smirked.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Maybe authority figures _aren't_ so useless after all...

Izzy: While I hate Eva with every organ in my body, I never liked Courtney either. She may have finally stopped Beth and Lindsay from their own whatever problems... I couldn't care less about them, but the way she complained to Ezekiel just felt... He put it best. Sore loser. So I did something to try to look like the more reasonable one. *Rubs hands together.* Because at least, making Courtney look crazier than _me_ should make her look back at herself again. Or better, get Lindsay and Beth to vote her off...

* * *

><p>Still giggling at the radio, Beth and Sadie did not notice Izzy walking closer to them until she started talking.<p>

"Hey." She said. "Sadie."

They both turned to her, Beth noticably looking more annoyed. She picked up the radio, asking "Really? I didn't know you were into helping people too."

"It's a beauty thing." Justin's voice sounded from the device, "I usually focus on helping the unfortunately less attractive, and usually to make them look better."

"Aw, that's really nice and generous, but Izzy wants to talk to us right now so-"

"Actually, I only want to talk to Sadie. You can keep talking to Justin."

Beth picked up the radio and began following Ezekiel.

"Wh-what do you want to talk to me about?" Sadie trembled.

"Look, I think joining sides with Eva is a bad idea. The only thing you're getting out of it in the end is a lot of girls who used to be your friends or thought you were sweet. Even Katie. It's obvious that Eva'll turn her back on you the second she gets the chance, because she's very crazy. Anything can make her snap. If Beth didn't walk away, you could have asked her. They camped together before she scared Beth away last challenge."

"But-"

"I'll let you work with me. Lindsay already thinks so. And maybe you and her can help convince Courtney to side with us too, since we all pretty much hate Eva."

Sadie looked off into the ground.

"Just something to think about."

* * *

><p><strong>(Cage of Freedom)<strong>

"You know what's ironic about this?" Ezekiel said as he shut the cage on the last three contestants. "This is actually one of the game's safer challenges, but it looks like one of the most dangerous. I mean, trying to start a fire and then going at like twenty MPH on a vine with it in your hand may **look** cool, but not dangerous. Being locked in a cage with three bears as it rolls down a cliff is dangerous, but... I explained why it isn't earlier. Now, I'm gonna push on this, don't be startled by that." He chuckled a little. "Because if you think _that's_ bad..."

Without any further warning or indication, he shoved off the cage into the distance, looking down with one hand on his forehead as a visor for the sun. The push managed to even draw Beth and Sadie's attention away from Justin.

Within the bars, all of the contestants were gripping onto their bears and toques for dear life. And because of that, they had to resort to some more unusual methods to keep their poles with them. Izzy somehow got her bear to hold her's. Eva had bitten on the middle, which considering the material might leave some bite marks. Lindsay just awkwardly had it lined against the bear's back, pressing the front of her body to keep it held up.

"Are we supposed to begin?" Izzy yelled among the rattling and clanking. "Ezekiel didn't say anything!"

She may have _technically_ got her answer when Eva dashed to her, the buffest contestant turning her head to the side in order to try to knock Izzy off of her animal (and, in a lower priority, Izzy's hat off of its animal), just to get said bear to block with an impressive swing of its own. As Eva kept jumping foreward with similar headturn-slashes, and Izzy hopped back with similar parries, Lindsay shuttered.

"Come on, Lindsay!" Izzy cried, her bear finally trying to push back. "All you need to do is run up to her and knock off her hat. She'll be voted off and we can spend the entire final five not worrying about her anymore!"

"But- well- what if she pulls the same thing she did to get Bridgette voted off?"

"You can vote Eva with me tonight! Courtney hates her too! And Beth will agree with Courtney now that they have the first chance to vote for her! That's four to two, we'll win no matter wha-"

Eva put a right hand on her dark blue weapon, then flicked it out with such force that it shoved Izzy out and made her slide over to Lindsay's side, still keeping her feet on the ride. The jungle girl's own pole was knocked out of her bear's hands, sliding over to a far end of the cage in a bright green blur.

"Okay," Izzy said, "I may not have a weapon anymore, but I have a new plan."

All Eva did while Izzy moved a little closer to Lindsay and prepared to whisper was attempt to stare the pair down.

"Okay, I will go foreward and try to fake an attack, while you follow behind me a little bit after. Eva may come at you, but throw your weapon to me. You might get hurt or even lose your hat- I... I can't say anything I think will work after what happened last night, but we should try to take her down as a team! Are you with me?"

Lindsay shivered at Eva's gaze.

"I-I-I-I have another idea! This plan _will_ work!"

"Really?" Izzy perked up. "What?"

Lindsay finally summed up the courage to withdraw her own staff. She tried twirling it around a little, then sheepishly grinning at Izzy after she nearly dropped it, before finally swining it in Izzy's direction. Before she had any time to react, the wild one's hat was swung off. She gasped, which enlicted an even sheepishlier grin from the blonde.

"_Traitor!_" Izzy cried.

"What? I didn't want to face off against Eva like that. She scares me. And I didn't say the plan was against _her_."

"Well you'll _have_ to face off against her, _by yourself_, in the last challenge!" Izzy's bear walked over to the emergency break, the human rider yanking it. And as advertized, a trio of parachutes expanded one after another, enough to grind it to a halt. The wheels not continuing thanks to an unmentioned large spike coming from the middle of the cage's base and driving itself into the ground.

While they were halfway down the cliff and thus the contestants just looked like beige (brown in the case of Courtney) blurs from there, they could still make out one of them making a run over there, followed by the others. That leading one was definitely Ezekiel.

Izzy hopped off her bear, walked to the cage's door, and swung it open, refusing to look back as Lindsay and Eva followed her. She did not speak until she was clearly in Ezekiel's hearing range.

"I lost. Lindsay swung off my hat. You can check the tapes."

"I will." Ezekiel said, scratching under his own hat. "Because I don't really know why Lindsay would want to do that. I mean, doesn't she know what Eva's done over the game?"

Izzy sighed. "She does. But she didn't think too hard about my plan or following her own and..."

"Hm. Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about. Eva can be pretty scary. Anyway, let's head back to the cabins."

On their way there, Lindsay felt a hand on her shoulder. She raised a brow in confusion to see that it was Courtney.

"Nice job!" The CIT said. "Izzy can't be trusted either. It doesn't matter who it is, but if you get rid of either of them, that's a step in the right direction."

* * *

><p><strong>(Bridge of the Fives)<strong>

"Aw yeah, this is totally a big deal."

Ezekiel said that because all six of the campers and both of the remaining bears were staring at the project above their current homes with dropped jaws. From the centers of the roofs, a simple wooden structure linked the two cabins and served as the base. Stemming from said roof-centers was a pair of apparantly near-useless wooden towers, about triple the height of the cabins. These towers held a series of ropes that decorated the side edges of the bridge, and the ropes themselves holding enough unlit flares to the point that they were packed and crammed together. (Which seemed to be the tower's only use outside of decoration, and even then this is in of itself another decoration.) Sticking out from the middle was a throne, seated on that being two crowns that were elaborate yet identical aside from color. One orange, and one navy.

"That's because the final five is where things really _really_ **really** go down, eh. The challenges aren't really that much harder - that's supposed to be the point of the merge, and the merge is only one episode away from the final five not counting our Aftermath. Or it was the point of either the cosplay or the camping challenge, I can't really remember right now. But it is where I go all-out on the budget Chris gave me, with more creative challenges! Flashier challenges! Pretty much doing this so I can say, 'hey, don't stop watching this! It gets a _lot_ better!' And to further my point _even more_, the winner of this challenge gets a fancy, cool crown that they can wear instead of their toques to the elimination ceremony."

"I like it!" Izzy cried, "But it would be a lot cooler if it was in the middle of some fitting weather! Like the middle of the night, or during rain or snow or sleat or - even in a _cloudy sky_ it would look cool! Buuuut no, there's not a single cloud."

"So how do we get on?" Eva asked.

Ezekiel turned back to the structure and frowned.

* * *

><p>"THANKS JUSTIN!" Ezekiel cried as Eva, Lindsay, and the pair of bears hopped out of a helicopter and got aligned on different ends of the bridge. (For those wondering, they chose the locations of their original cabins - back in their old teams.) "Oh, and don't forget to light the flares when I call for the challenge to start!"<p>

As the vehicle drifted up to the top, a tan arm sticking out with a lit match lighted one of them. It somehow spread across the rope, and soon several sprites of light were shot into the air.

"BEGIN!"

Eva directed her bear to charge foreward, holding a simple hand out being all that it needed to rush foreward on all fours. By contrast, Lindsay needed to shout "Go foreward!" before her animal somehow got the memo, and started running itself.

Down below, Izzy snickered.

"Spoiler alert: I'm voting for whoever loses. Lindsay because Eva would be invincible and she betrayed me, and Eva thanks to a lucky deal I got."

It was not long before Lindsay and Eva met at the center. Both of their bears leaped up. Their weapons set at the ready, held out as far as possible. The footage was slown down at this point, just before they were about to clash for the first time...

...And also the last time. The slowdown was needed to make the fight seem longer and flashier than it was, because right after that Eva took off Lindsay's hat without much effort. Their bears both landed without much struggle, but Lindsay stared at the other four campers off-bridge with wide-eyes.

"NOOOOO! MY HAT'S GONE! Now people can see that my hair... it just looks really really tacky without anything in it!"

She tried to pat her hands on it, turning over to the helicopter and saying, "Justin? Do you think this makes it look better?"

Nobody reacted. Instead, the next sounds of a person were Eva's, as she jumped off her bear and ran to the throne. As if to prove a point, she held the orange crown above her head and snapped it in half, before tossing away her toque, putting on the bluer crown, and seating herself on the fancy chair.

As Justin came back down to fly the bears back to the grass, Ezekiel ran to the side of the former Jackrabbit's cabin with a ladder. Using this, he made his way over to the throne, leaping on the arm rest and raising up Eva's hand before she swatted it back from him. He did not seem to think of how dangerous this was, even with the cushion below him.

"Say hello to our first confirmed member of the final five! Eva!" He cheered, while she crossed her arms and grinned at the other campers.

"Victory never looked so good." She said.

"Yeah, um... I would be a lot happier about this if it was _anyone else_ up here." Ezekiel leaned in closer to her. She did not turn to him. "No, seriously. Even if Heather somehow made it to this point and got invincibility.

"Anyway, a lot of the staff's gonna remove the bridge from the cabins and try to see what else we can use it for. Because it's our thing for this episode that we should to be naked for the _whole day_, you won't get your clothes back until midnight. Except for our 'lucky' camper voted off. She'll get her's as soon as they reach the loser's place, since everyone there has clothes. And since it's not _technically_ part of the game and we _technically_ only want this to apply to the in-game stuff. Oh, and speaking of that, while Eva gets her garunteed confirmation into the final five now, the rest of the future final five members must wait a few hours before our bonfire cermony. And during that time, you may all wonder which of you will join her, and which of you will be the one getting voted off in the humiliating place of _just before_ the final five."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Wow. For the first time ever, _everyone left in the game_ except for me is up for grabs. This must have been how Gwen and Bridgette felt on the first day, unless they secretly hated eachother. I really do feel like I'm on the top of the world. Hm... let's see, let's see... Izzy's my top target, of course; but Courtney's also on to me. And then there's Lindsay and Beth, who are really annoying and can distract Sadie - oh, I have _so many options_ without the risk of getting voted off myself! Ha, this is _amazing!_

Sadie: Should I listen to Eva like I have been... or listen to Izzy... urgh! If I make one mad, it's... well, it's like chosing between getting punched or getting blown up! Except Eva's the one punching! Which might kill me just as much as a bomb!

Courtney: I can't believe it's only been four ceremonies between now and the last time we were limited to voting based on teams. And now that I think about it... yeah, at some point I stopped liking Izzy. And looking back, I can't believe I wasted my very first vote on _Katie_ of all people! I mean, she was gonna go anyway, you could see here since she's not here, so... wait, I was kind of the reason for that so in turn... *Shakes head and hands.* Nah. She wouldn't have made it this far anyway. Compared to Sadie she was always the bigger wreck. I think.

Izzy: Heh heh, this time seeing the blonde of the bonfire group lose will be a _good_ thing! And I don't even think she's really blonde... hrm... that would have been a lot easier to figure out if she didn't shave, especially today...

Beth: I feel real sorry for having to vote off anybody now. I mean, I always thought of the four other people without invincibility as being some of my closest friends. And maybe Izzy. Well, I wanted to get to know Izzy, but... hm... I _guess_ that can wait until after the game. I mean, she can't be too mad that I think she's a little weird and doesn't need to stay on the show... and then she's kind of a huge threat and everything...

Lindsay: *As with everybody else after losing the challenge, her toque was back on too.* You know, I really like this style. I _do_ look really sexy wearing nothing but one of Ezekiel's hats.

* * *

><p><strong>(Elimination Ceremony)<strong>

"I am _so_ glad I got my toe taken care of just in time for this!" Justin said, walking towards Ezekiel's side with a plate of five marshmallows in hand. He looked over at the competetors, noting that while the rest of them were seated normally, Eva was juggling her toque, her crown, and the elimination remote.

"Eva's got the right idea." Ezekiel said, before tacking on a "For once." under his breath. "Whip out your voting devices. And note that, for the first time since the beginning of the game, you'll have someone with invincibility. She can vote for you, but you can't vote for her."

Eva put a brief halt to her juggling act to join the other five in tapping on the device. It was not long before the podium beeped for the sixth time, Ezekiel ripping off the sheet and chucking at the results. He already had one hand on a marshmallow, taking aim.

"Well, this is... interesting. And a pretty close vote. It's a shame, really, that this will be the last - and only - time we'll have five marshmallows on here for now. It's a lot closer and a little less obvious than our less teamless vote. So without further ado, the final five consists of: Eva, of course."

Upon catching her safety icon, she resumed her juggling act with the candy added as a fourth piece. After a few cycles, she popped it into her mouth.

"Our voteless Beth and Sadie. Aaaaand... at one vote...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Courtney."

Justin gasped, looking between the final two contestants.

"Congradulations," Ezekiel said, "You've all made it to the final five! And, the last camper joining you... who only got two votes..."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Justin averted his eyes from the print-out, crossing the fingers of the hand that was not holding up the marshmallow plate.

...

...

...

...

...

"Iiiiiizzy!"

"No!" Justin cried, before quickly shrinking back. "I, uh... I mean, Lindsay and I, uh... well, I never _really_ feel that we got to bond. It'll be kind of sad to see you go."

Lindsay laughed. "Well, I guess all that I brought with me was taken in the morning. It was nothing but clothes anyway. So... I don't need to take anything! I can just hop into the Car of Failure and go!"

"Yeah, sure." Ezekiel said, the two of them heading over to said just-pulled-up car. "Just remember, you're carpooling with me."

"But wait!" Justin finally set the plate down, moving one hand foreward to call for her. "Lindsay! Don't you... like me in a way?"

"Well, maybe, but only as a friend. Look, I really want to leave. It's hot here, and that loser place might have AC."

While he watched them go, Justin clutched his fists together. He was cut off by being taken off guard by Beth and Sadie hugging him.

"It's okay." The first said. "We really like you."

"Yeah, you're cool with us."

Justin's eye twitched, but he still managed to mouth "That's two and three" to the active camera, holding two fingers up with the first two words and adding a third on the last two.

Meanwhile, half way into the Car of Failure, Lindsay turned and waved to Courtney.

"Oh, and hey Courtney, now you know what it feels like when a person who says she's your friend votes for you! That's right, I voted for you!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: Jeez, what it is with show staff and blonde campers? Or blonde campers and hating me? Or... blonde campers?

Eva: *Sighs.* I was given some tough options here. But I ultimately went for Lindsay. You see, if I had gone after Izzy or Courtney, then they would stop being iffy about eachother and the other one would start going right after me instead. I would be removing their battle with eachother, and have them focus on me. So, by kicking off one of Courtney's friends - and preferably, the less predictable one who already had some issues with Izzy, I could hope to let Izzy and Courtney destroy eachother. So it would be like having _no_ enemies, instead of the one I would have had if they did go after me. It's... a risky move at first, but it helps in the long run. I might like conflict, but not when staying out of vote-off range is this hard. Oh, and also, I need to focus more on Sadie. Something's definitely up with her.

Justin: Alright, time to come clean. I made a bet with my rival Alejandro that I could charm more girls in this game before they're voted off than he did in one week. No, really, by my standards compared to him, four weeks to one is a start. Speaking of four, he charmed three, so my minimum target is one more than that. My problem? Well, I got Leshawna earlier, and my strategy was to get Sadie and Beth now. Because... in all honesty, it seemed like one of them was going home tonight! And Lindsay would be for later. This... was a curveball. So now the final five is one big pitfall. Sadie and Beth I already charmed, Courtney has a boyfriend, and Izzy has this crush on Bridgette. And I don't like stomping on crushes that much. Because... I don't like doing it! (What is it with this confessional?) So that leaves... *Shudders.* _Eva._ If I want to win this bet, and take the first step to being respected more than Alejandro, I have to charm Eva! *Shudders again.* Well played, _Al_, well played.

* * *

><p><strong>(Car of Failure)<strong>

"And with that wrapped up, I'm heading over to the Aftermath studios with Lindsay here, our future last interviewie!" Ezekiel cried. "Find out what happens then, and what happens once we get back to the game proper! You _really_ don't want to miss the next big challenge, right here, on Total! Zeksmit! Plains!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Audition - Lindsay)<strong>

The first thing the camera showed was Lindsay adjusting it. The screen shook around as she kept moving her hands to steady it, finally getting the device into the right place and taking a few steps back, now revealing her to be in a bedroom. She put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

"Okay Secksmin, I read the contract and I saw the fine print saying that you prefer fan service in your auditions. So I bought a bunch of fans, and then searched what fan service actually was. Not cool."

Her expression lightened a bit before she continued. "However, I did have this one idea for an audition that may seem like something like a fan service, but it's not supposed to be fan service so much as a talent. I don't not want to do fan service, so this should be close enough instead."

She leaned back into the camera, pressing a button that caused the footage to skip to that of her still close by the camera, if from a slightly different angle. When she backed away, she was completely topless.

"So I saw this in a superhero movie but I forgot what it was called. I am going to make a bikini out of nothing but dental floss. Now, I already have one bikini for each season, but I think that making a fifth one for _Total Secksmin_ is a good idea! I took off the top to make this easier to put on since changing clothes is a waste of time, and I kept on the skirt so I would be as unnaked as I possibly can. I mean," she laughed a little, "I _do_ have a bandana after all so I'm not naked either way."

From then, either she seemed to have figured out how to better edit footage or Justin finally stepped in to make this less tiring (likely the latter), because it flipped from various clips of her trying to tie floss strings together. At some points, she had to resort to falling back on her bed near the left edge of what was being recorded. Others she tried chewing on parts of the floss to see if it would do anything. Once, she even chopped what she was working on with a knife, then realized this and said "Wait, that's what I _don't_ want to do. Now I'll have to start all over!"

Instead of repeating this, it cut to her holding up a finished top and bottom set, and as advertized they were fashioned out of floss. What she didn't mention, however, was that the coverage was about as thick as your average string, as she didn't even bother trying to make actual cloth from them. Notably, what looked like window light coming from the far left side of the screen was a little dimmer than it was at the beginning of the audition.

"I'm done! Now, I can mass-produce this and sell it and use it as a way to get those censored parts past the censors! You can't censor it if there's a bit of cloth covering it, that's what the cloth does!"

She slipped the top on and - based on the straps - it seemed like an actual 'fit'. Unsurpringly, her chest was still censored, a fact that did not change when she grabbed the camera and shoved it right up there, covering the screen in pixels.

"See? You can't see a thing! Even when I jump around, like this."

It would be difficult to tell what was going on if not for her saying that. She set her camera back, and then started putting the bottom on, getting both of her feet into what passed as the leg-holes.

"I know this from being on the beach. If you cover up the line part of the butt, you can show as much of the round parts as you want-"

She lifted it up, suddenly reeled back in pain, cried "OW! REALLY BAD FLOSS WEDGIE!" and fell like a chopped tree, her head landing on the camera and damaging it enough so that the audition only displayed static for its last few seconds.

* * *

><p><strong>Votes:<strong>

Beth: Izzy

Courtney: Izzy

Eva: Lindsay

Izzy: Lindsay

Lindsay: Courtney

Sadie: Lindsay

**Total:**

Eva - Immune

Courtney - 1

Izzy - 2

Lindsay - 3

* * *

><p><strong>Still In:<strong> Beth, Courtney, Eva, Izzy, Sadie

**Eliminated:** Heather, Gwen, Leshawna, Katie, Bridgette, Lindsay

* * *

><p><strong>Closing AN:<strong>

"Secksmin" should be a type of Pikmin. I'm kidding, but still. Speaking of Lindsay's audition, that "Superhero movie" she referenced is literally called _Superhero Movie_ (it's one of those comedy films that parodies a lot of a genre. In the scene she's refering to, if I'm remembering correctly, the love interest is shown at one point looking over what to wear, and she lifts up three thongs, getting increasingly skimpy to the point where the last one is, you guessed it, nothing but a string of floss tied in the shape of an outfit), and this is probably the fan serviest audition in the season. Well, it makes sense, seeing one of Lindsay's original purposes in the show, so I thought this would be an appropriate send-off. I also tried not to insult her intellegence too much (look over how the narrative describes it and you'll probably find a hint of distaste) but at the same time I really hate dumb blonde characters. Last thing I want to say, no, she suffered no brain damage from falling on the camera like that.

I think that Lindsay is my most difficult TZ elimination reason to come up with so far. (Well, there's a few ideas in TDWTR that come to mind that might top her, hence why I said "TZ".) As said in-narrative, Eva could vote for just about anyone. She and Lindsay herself had more than enough reason to join in voting off Izzy. But, it was planned that she would lose here - there's just not much for her character to go anymore right now, and I always thought she was a little annoying - so I tried my best to stick to the original plan. And yeah, like with how the elimination itself plays off, most of this chapter is a lot more made-up-as-I-went-along than the others. The ideas for the specific challenges didn't even come until the exact point when I drafted Ezekiel explaining them to the campers.

But going back to the elimination, there is one lingering idea I had to make Eva vote for Courtney instead, thus forcing a three-way tie breaker. But... I couldn't think of a tie-breaker for now (they're supposed to be very short, quick, and simple things _that tie to the challenge_, and little in this challenge could be described as short, quick, or simple (simple meaning it doesn't take much to make)), and I had no idea how to handle it, and I just wanted to get to the next chapter already, so I came up with some excuse as to why Eva would possibly vote for some random idiot over the two biggest threats to her villainy. But hey, sometime around - maybe even during the next chapter, but likely not - I could edit it so that that's what happens.

What's the next chapter in question?

Next up:

* * *

><p>"<em>Ezeeeeekiel...<em>" A strange voice was heard, its owner walking past several cows until she saw the peek of a certain cliff in the distance. "You thought you could hide yourself with all of your interns? 'Guards?' Well, you made a big mistake in telling the viewers where you're gonna be in the ads. If you didn't, it would take me a little bit longer to track you down, but based on the geography I would have guessed that you're hosting your new show in Zekitunakwa. I mean, how could I not? You're my second favorite EMDHS classmate! I already know how much you love this place! So I know what it looks like, looking it up even before you won the challenge! And now that I have all of my tools ready, I think it's time to fend off everyone protecting you, so that I can have _you_ for _me_."

A large shadow flew through the air, landing just in front of the tyrian-haired fangirl. All that was shown was a pair of gray boots, landing into the grass. Even when the active camera changed, everything above was still cloaked in the shadow of the night and in the thick mist of the area.

"Wh-who are you?" Sierra asked.

Two bright, near marble-like eyes shone, beaming out light that bore a faint tint of gold.

"Wh...wh..._what_ are you?"

It drew a right arm up, a strange, black cape-like object extending from it and forming a huge arc over her.

She screamed, followed by blackness. Then, in big, gold letters, was this:

**BEWARE OF HOMER**

**OCTOBER 2014**

Footage resumed, showing Sierra to be wrapped up in the strange black object, with the shady figure grabbing the top of the cloak and leaping into the air, turning into a golden light that first flew straight up before zig-zagging its way towards the direction of Zekitunakwa.

Another fade to black, with the previous text listed before, now with an additional third line:

**But first...**

"It's our Aftermath!" Geoff cried, the camera zooming from him to reveal the six eliminated contestants seated by him.

* * *

><p>Fancy trailer aside (That might contradict the fact that this is supposed to take place in the winter of 2012; eh, I could change that.), what's really next up is <strong>The Final Five Countdown<strong>. In celebration of this upcoming final five, we'll see Geoff interview Heather, then the two of them interviewing Gwen, Leshawna, Katie, Bridgette, and Lindsay! **Don't skip it**, though, because it's more than a recap and does have some pretty important character development in it. To encourage you not to skip it, it's going to be shorter than the challenge chapters, so it'll be over with quickly.


	7. Aftermath I

**Total Zeksmit Plains**

**Chapter 7: The Final Five Countdown**

**Beginning AN:**

Yet another step in GPF history! My first Aftermath! Er... not counting that little "interview" thing with the Revenge Five in _Sweet Jade and Hella John_. Really, when it comes to firsts I'd like to pretend SJAHJ was never written. Sadly, it was, so it will remain the birth of a few elements that are planned to be re-occuring in my works.

But enough of SJAHJ, let's get to finally re-showing the eliminated contestants! Except for Lindsay, since she was in the game the very last chapter. So... this'll be the _last_ time you'll see her for a while?

I was so excited to write this that I begun just after finishing the rough draft (excluding the audition) of chapter 6!

Forgive me as I have currently only seen one Aftermath. I sort of fell behind after two episodes of _Action_ and then only decided to say "Aw, screw it" and start watching again mid-season right after the third one, and I still haven't had the enthusiasm to jump right to finishing it just yet. And since _World Tour_'s Aftermaths are shoved off to web episodes I kind of delayed watching them, since I would rather use the television for watching full episodes, the internet for watching short Youtube videoes, and my computer in general for... well, typing stuff like this. I did, though, see the first Aftermath of _World Tour_, but not until after writing just about all of this.

And yes, this is a shorter chapter. Don't worry, your computer did not fail to load a second half. At least I think it didn't. Anyway, I decided to leave this as a short chapter by TZP standards because 1: Doesn't "Beware of Homer" sound way more interesting than this? And 2: since the Aftermaths are supposed to be kind of simplistic compared to what I presume their canon counterparts are like, there really isn't that much thought going around when it comes to even trying to make it long.

By the way, the line breaks do not indicate a long span of time here. I just thought it would look monotonous without them, so they're as in-between the interviews as possible, and judging by what I count as the end of one and the beginning of another.

* * *

><p>Geoff's voice narrated, beginning over an image of Zekitunakwa before cutting to an appropriate scene of what he was talking about. "Alright! Let's do this! Recap number one, covering absolutely <em>everything<em> from the beginning to right now!

"_Total Zeksmit Plains_ began December twenty-first, twenty-twelve, staring the teal blaze himself, Ezekiel Smithy!" Just a head's up, this is where the recap began showing images of previous events, except that this part only showed him using one hand to shake with Chris's, and the other to grip on both a check and a contract. "Ezekiel had just come from winning a very special post-game challenge on a terrible reality show by Chris McClean, one _Extreme Musical Drama High School_, and this victory lets him host his own miniseason of up to thirteen episodes. So he ran through the auditions, looking for people who were interested in making a quick fifty thousand dollars, but he wanted people who were unaware of Chris. This became something of a challenge, and so we only had eleven campers to work with instead of his ideal fourteen. So we have to thicken out the show a little bit, and thus the two Aftermaths were born! So if you don't like being here, former campers, blame Chris for being so famous. Uh... that's just what Ezekiel wanted me to say."

Here's where the events from the actual show were shown. "Anyway, we started with eleven, and as the show went on our numbers dwindled down to five. Lucky final five is where we've decided to take our first break for an Aftermath, and our only one mid-game! The dwindling was actually all part of a big plot in the grander scheme of things, kicked off by, amazingly, the first person voted off. Heather had created this huge alliance with almost half of the other contestants - Katie, Sadie, Lindsay, and Beth. Together, they formed an impresive group to barge through a giant maze that served as the first challenge, while the other six campers had to split into two groups of three after getting into a little... conflict. Like Courtney bossing around Gwen and Leshawna. Unknowest to Heather's allies, they wern't 'allies' per-say as much as they were human shields, but by the time the news struck most of them had been removed from the challenge leaving just Heather herself, Lindsay, Leshawna, and Gwen. Oh, and Bridgette, who pulled a surprise manuver and won first. Thanks to pushing both her own luck and one-too-many of Leshawna's buttons, Heather found herself getting a humiliating defeat and in last place after a not as unanimous vote-off as you would think. The challenge's other victor, Gwen, earned that title by Lindsay, who wanted to show her that she is done with Heather and done with being used.

"Gwen and Bridgette became the captains of their respective teams: Gwen to the Killer Jackrabbits, also composed of Lindsay, Beth, Leshawna, and - because she was the only option left - Courtney. Bridgette's team, the Screaming Buffalo, has Katie and Sadie joining her, as well as the quirky girl Izzy and the main villain of this story, Eva. Sadly for Gwen, her title as the team captain only lasted one episode. Because Courtney had teamed up with Lindsay and Beth - yeah, they said they learned from their mistakes with Heather, and here's the thing, _they did_. Instead of letting Courtney boss them around, they openly taunted her into saying that they had enough power to vote her off, and Courtney has equal at the most power over them. Lindsay kept her word on this, but prior to the alliance's team-up on Gwen, Beth started having her doubts on keeping Courtney down after seeing her first hints of showing genuine emotion. That wasn't being angry and scary. Meanwhile, Eva tried to pull a deal-with-the-devil (she's the devil, by the way) by asking Courtney for a team-up to get rid of Katie and Bridgette for um... oh yeah, Courtney thinks Katie is the reason why she lost the first challenge, and she also thinks that she - Courtney, not Katie - deserved the win the right to be a team captain more than Bridgette or Gwen. But Bridgette's the one on Eva's team. Courtney refused the alliance, and this ticked off Eva like, a lot, so she ended up mimicking Courtney and making allies with Katie and Sadie.

"And this is how Eva started becoming brutal. Worse than Heather! Her idea of an alliance was to basically scare Katie and Sadie into the win. Well, Katie isn't listed there for long, but I'll get to that. While she tries to get the inseperable twins separated, Leshawna catches onto the fact that she's the last member of her team that isn't working for Courtney, and is on the chopping block. And thus doesn't really have to work so hard and listen to Courtney's futile plans, and can work on her own way of winning for the team. Courtney starts feeling bad about this after seeing how well-intended she is (and maybe Leshawna not being a team captain - or maybe not being _Gwen_ has something to do it. Seriously, why does she hate Gwen so much? I know preps and goths don't get along but this is crazy), and the important thing is that Lindsay and I guess Beth _doesn't_. So, along the line things escalate until Courtney willingly makes an offer with Leshawna that if she follows Courtney's bad ideas and they don't work and cost the team, then she will get Lindsay and Beth to vote for herself, effectively quitting. Leshawna tried one of Courtney's ideas. It failed. But Lindsay and Beth felt that Courtney wasn't worth losing and they thought that Leshawna was being a little sly, so they voted for her anyway. But Courtney, not wanting to fully go through with her plan and vote herself off, panicked and voted for Lindsay instead. Yeah, that wouldn't be a bad idea, for a villain, until she blurts out that she voted for Lindsay in a desperate attempt to get Leshawna to leave with a smile to her. That worked. But at the cost of that, Courtney's final two teammates both hate her.

"Let's cut back to the Screaming Buffalo, because it's all their losses until the teams merge from here. Eva moves onto the next part in her 'alliance,' which is to continue her freaky plan of toughening up Sadie and to begin scaring Courtney by removing 'target' number one. Throughout the challenge, Katie had been doing horribly while Sadie was spectacular, which actually gave Eva an excuse to finally begin going rougher on the thinner one. Oh, by the way, Katie's the thinner one and Sadie's the bigger one. From this point on, you _might_ wanna keep that in mind. Really, Eva was going to find some slip-up Katie made and tackle her for that, it's just that this worked perfectly for her. So when Katie finally caught up in this relay-race of a challenge, the first thing Eva did was coldly blow her off of the alliance and introduce to Sadie a 'three strikes' system. Eva didn't need to fake anything, either, with Courtney now at the palm of her hand after seeing that Eva _could_, in fact, get rid of Katie, as well as Bridgette being oblivious to her and Lindsay and Beth being too focused on Courtney, Eva pretty much had the entire cast in her hand since Leshawna was gone and she doesn't really need Sadie anymore. If she ever did! Katie was, of course, voted off because Eva's treatment made her finally snap. Which did nothing but made Bridgette think she's a little crazy, that's one vote, the other votes came from Eva and - by Eva's pressuring - Sadie. Oh, right, and the Lindsay-Courtney-Beth thing took a change when Courtney managed to win Beth back, except she's now bent on destroying Lindsay. Which is something Courtney doesn't want.

"So while Courtney is busy trying to make Beth and Lindsay reunite and reform the alliance, Ezekiel's challenges finally risk getting in the way of everyone's plans. By complete and utter accident. He splits them all into pairs of two, one from each team, with Izzy getting a complete freebee to make up for the unbalanced teams after winning a quick pre-challenge. Courtney and Bridgette finally get a chance to bond, but kind of blows it. At least she sorta re-unites herself with them a little. While they planned a meeting and got themselves a nice reward after solving Ezekiel's puzzle, most of the Screaming Buffalo weren't doing as hot. Sadie, under Eva's plan, convinced Bridgette to take pity on her by encouraging her to vote for her - if you're following that, Sadie wanted Bridgette to vote for herself, and 'herself' means Sadie. So she and Lindsay were out. Eva metaphorically locked herself up in a cave for a long time, then when she came out and ready to play, she scared her bunk-mate Beth into leaving the challenge too. Finally, Courtney simply survived better after a deal that she and Bridgette would go on their own, earning another victory for the Killer Jackrabbits and setting up an interesting scenario. You see, Bridgette asked if Izzy would vote off Sadie with her, as part of a certain alliance. Izzy lied, saying yes even though she was more dead-set on going after Eva. Because of this, something Eva planned in a rare moment of brilliance, she decided to use her and Sadie's votes to eliminate... Bridgette in a two-to-one-to-one, knowing that the votes will be taken off scale. Why Bridgette and not her biggest threat at the time Izzy? To play mind games with Courtney, remember, Eva did say she could get them voted off and everything when she was trying to make her unsweet deal.

"Finally, Ezekiel had everyone get naked to beat the heat! Which wasn't the intention at first, but it worked well. The teams merged too, and from here on out, the campers are all left fighting for themselves! As the numbers totalled down one-by-one in this elimination-based challenge, people took advantage of the teams being disbanded. Izzy, taking Bridgette's advice to be more mature, tried setting up an alliance with Lindsay to find a more strategic way to get Eva voted off. But Courtney didn't take kindly to this, which makes more sense since she also straightened out her alliance's conflict just now. While amends looked like they were being made by all the remaining contestants except Eva, there were actually a ton of sparks just waiting to explode. Yeah, like the Courtney-Izzy thing I already covered. And Izzy and Lindsay's alliance didn't go too well itself. Eventually, Lindsay had an option to follow with Izzy's plan to make Eva lose the battling challenge, taking away her chance at immunity and allowing for all of the conetstants to vote for her since they all hate her by now, but Lindsay threw out the orders at the last second. And threw _off_ Izzy- was that even a pun? Eh, either way, Lindsay quickly got some hate from Izzy for 'betraying her' (even though Izzy also had a shot earlier in the challenge and blew it), which meant that Izzy got even more hate from Courtney and Beth. But meanwhile, Eva and Sadie chose to vote Lindsay off, because it's part of Eva's plan to use Lindsay's elimination as a way to see if she can drive Courtney and Izzy against eachother. Which will make the two destroy eachother, and not her. Which I think is what Eva thinks would have happened if she opted for Courtney or Izzy instead. So, that's our final five. Beth, Courtney, Eva, Izzy, and Sadie. But what about everybody else?

"Fast-foreward two hours, and they're all here now! I'll interview Heather, and following that we'll interview Gwen, Leshawna, Katie, Bridgette, and Lindsay! This is a once-of-twice-a-game special, right here, on Total! Zeksmit! Plains! _**Aftermath!**_"

*Instead of an actual intro, all that's shown is the letters "T," "Z," "P," and "A" falling down in 3D, forming the intials to _Total Zeksmit Plains Aftermath_. Said meaning is written underneath that.*

* * *

><p><strong>(Heather's Interview)<strong>

Geoff walked down the currently-empty walkway lining the pool of what appeared to be a luxury hotel, standing tall in the midest of a thick forest. He seated himself on a large couch, flipping a microphone around until it ended being held up to his own face.

"Good morning- evening, and welcome to _Total Zeksmit Plains Aftermath_. Broadcasting from Playa Des Losers, the very impressive five-star resort lying in the middle of the forest... not really considered to be part of Zekitunakwa proper. I am your host, Geoff Bacon, and I will be interviewing all of the ladies who tried and failed at earning it big. Me and the first one voted off'll join together to do them all in order, except... well, she can't interview herself, so I'll take the first one by myself. _To be honest_, this is kinda scary. Heather scares me. So, without further ado, let's introduce our contestants!"

The door to the hotel opened, and Leshawna proudly stepped out with one hand waving at the cameras, and the other on her hip. Bridgette followed next, hands in her pockets and kicking at the pavement in annoyance. The last four of them all exited at once; Katie and a nude (aside from a certain orange hat) Lindsay chatting together, Gwen holding her fingers in her ears, and Heather sneaking behind all of them.

"This is perfect!" Heather shouted, startling Geoff by speaking to his immediate side. She snatched the microphone out of his hands. "I've been waiting for this since the game started. Now, who's up first?"

Geoff paused. Most likely to regain himself. "Um... you are. Now, if you can sit on that couch over there, l-leave a space in the middle. It's for the future interviewies! While everybody else, go to those bleachers."

As they got seated, the host's eyes instantly went to the mic.

"Can I, like, have that back?"

"No. Why do you need this?"

"Okay, fine. See, this is how this works. You see, we needed some filler since we got less contestants than we planned thanks to Ezekiel being really picky when he picked them out. So all we can do is interviews, then some fanmail reading at the end which... is a bad idea because this show isn't supposed to air until at least the second Aftermath cuz of all the editting we need to do. So I ask two questions, it's the same, simple questions for everybody, about the game, and nothing else. Then that's where you come in. You can ask two unique, personal questions to each of them, and all the while, we have a lie-detector hooked up."

A pair of interns ran behind the couch, hurrying their way behind Heather and nervously holding something up. A metalic, gray helmet, with a pair of lights on the front, with both of the carryers looking away from the presumed target. Finally, they dropped it by her side, and bolted off at top speed, leaving her to look at it and shake her head.

"I'm okay with the lie detecting part. It's this ugly helmet I don't like."

"Aw, come on! You get to see the other campers wearing it!"

She lifted it, rubbing back and forth so that it fit right on her. "Oh, then deal."

"Knowing you, this'll be more for your questions than mine. In fact, hint: I didn't buy this until after you got kicked off. Now, for my question number one: Who, of the final five, do you want to win?"

"Heh." She shrugged. "Let me put it this way. Out of the final _ten_ I had two people I wanted to _lose_: Gwen, and Leshawna. Those two tag-teamed me and forced me to change my plans. This is something nobody does, FYI. As a strategist, anyone who thinks they can outsmart me better watch their backs. I'm getting off track. The point is, I hated them the most, and I was right about... something because they got voted off next. And back then, this was because of Courtney. I had someone to look up to. Another strategist... until she started hanging out with idiots, like Lindsay-"

Who shot her a look.

"-And Beth-"

Lindsay's look intensified.

"-And she was unironically, genuinely friendly with them. This is nothing you would expect from me. I'm not going to be friendly to any of you. Just like Eva with the final five. Yes, that's right, I'm on Team Eva. She and Izzy are the only ones left in the game who actually know how to play in a contest, and she's the only one who doesn't humiliate herself. Just like me."

"You humiliate yourself all the time!" Gwen cried. "You've been in Zektitunakwa for less than 24 hours, and already got pantsed! And then there's everything that happened here, which I got the _privilege_ of seeing the most of, since I got to stay here so long. Ooh, Geoff, can you do a little behind the scenes thing where you show everything bad that's happened to Heather here?"

"I would love to, but-"

"Excuse me, but this is not about you." Heather cut in. "Wait your turn. It's coming up next. Right after Geoffy asks me question number two?"

They sat in silence afterward, until Heather leaned in and shouted, "That's your cue, idiot."

"Right! Question two, what did you think of your stay in Zekitunakwa?"

She leaned back, crossing her arms. "What a boring question. You already know that. The time? Horrible, I got humiliated, and between then and now I've been plotting my perfect revenge. The place? A redneck wreck with a homeschooled idiot hopelessly attatched to it. The game? Honestly, the money's big enough to hook me into doing it for a reward, but small enough to not be the main reason to join. If you doubled it, maybe..."

"What _is_ your main reason?"

"Up!" Heather smirked. "I thought you could only ask those two, generic, non-personal questions."

"No, it's more like a casual ask. Heck, the money's what got _Justin_ into the game. What could possibly do it for you?"

"You wouldn't understand, because you're a ditz, but I also got in to see what desperate losers did the same thing unironically. That's how I underestimated Gwen. But I will _not_ be making that same mistake."

"Let me get this straight. You came in here to troll the other campers?"

"Pretty much, and your garbage-smelled boss just handed me the perfect oppertunity."

She spun around her microphone, looking over to the bleachers.

"Oh _Gweeeeen!_ I think you're due for a little _interview!_"

* * *

><p><strong>(Gwen's Interview)<strong>

Neither of the now-hosts expected her to storm up to them with such confidence.

"_Will you stop?_" She said, after chosing to sit closer to Geoff's side than Heather's. The latter brought this up as she confidently moved the helmet from Heather's head to her's.

"Um, I believe Geoff might want you to sit _between_ us. That's why he wanted me to sit like this in the beginning. Now, Geoff, get your boring questions out."

"Uh... Gwen. F-f-final five."

"I heard the question when you asked it to Heather." She laughed, if only very slightly. Her mood soured again when she turned to face said contestant. "And well, to be honest, I never saw myself liking any of the final five. I feel like the ones who used to be on my team betrayed me, and Izzy and Eva are just nutjobs. So I guess that leaves... Sadie."

Gwen smiled. "I would have sounded crazy to myself 15 days ago when the game started, but I think I can relate to Sadie in a few ways. Mostly because she's the opposite of me. I wanted to give the game up, but I didn't want to go down being humiliated by _you_-" she pointed a finger at Heather. "And a few days after getting the boot second, I just thought of it as outranking one of the two girls who bothered me when the game started. So I started feeling okay about that. And even Courtney got to feel what it's like to not be in power, those little clips they show here always make me laugh."

"Just to note," Geoff commented, "Yes. To give the ex-campers a better idea of what's going on, Justin leaks a few bits from the episodes that he knows'll make it to the final product. They're still under some pretty heavy editting. So don't think that we're delaying anything and giving the campers first-peek."

"And about being my opposite, well... I felt bad for the way Sadie blindly does anything Eva tells her too, including voting off her own friend, but at the same time I like her enthusiasm. And I think I can see why she made it to the final five with everybody else; she's a little less afraid to take risks than most of us."

"Um, that's pretty cool and all, but you know that taking risks is sort of the reason why Heather is here in the first place."

"Oh." She turned her gaze to a random part of the patio in front of her. "I forgot about that."

"How was your stay on Zekitunakwa?"

The goth chuckled. "Worst four days of my life, followed by the best twelve. While I don't care that much about the final five, most of the eliminated six is pretty cool, and I was rooting for a lot of them before they got voted off. Like Leshawna, Bridgette, and when she was betrayed, Katie."

Heather laughed. "Aw, thanks for giving me the perfect idea for my first question. So, you said that you started rooting for Katie after she was betrayed, but you still don't seem to like Courtney. Even after she got her own alliance hijacked from her by Lindsay and Beth of all people. _Lindsay and Beth._ Don't you feel sorry at all for her?"

"Uhhhh, _no?_" She said as though Heather just told her that her parents were aliens. "I loved that. It's like she got hit by karma for everything she did to me and Leshawna. Or she got leftover karma from the crap you did."

"Oh, it's not because she happened to boss _you_ around."

Gwen looked just as puzzled as Geoff did. "Wh-what are you trying to say? Are you trying to call me selfish?"

"Question two." Heather was tilting the mic back and forth, closer to Gwen's face than her own."We know what you think about Courtney already. It's first-episode knowledge! Now, what about _Beth?_ And for more fun, try to judge her by herself, and not with Courtney involved in any way."

She sighed. "Well, now that you reminded me why I hate Courtney, I don't really like Beth by herself either."

Predictably, Lindsay gasped at that. Which Gwen waved off.

"You're still surprised? Look, all you and her have been doing all game is following bad people. Yes, you handed me the guilded Zeke and looked like you turned into a better person, but three days later you're hanging out with a tempremental CIT who can't understand that the best strategy is to stop letting her ego eat her up, and just let herself lose the game. I mean _come on!_ I don't really like this game, but if I was in the final five, Eva would be toasted! Because, instead of Courtney, I don't pick fights with capable people!"

"If you're not picking a fight..." Lindsay spoke up, "Then why are you saying this?"

"You're not exactly capable." Which drew another gasp from her. "And neither is Beth." And another. "You still think that going around naked like this is a good idea, even though you should have had your clothes back less than a minute after you came here."

"This is a fashion statement!" She cried, "I'm not naked since I have this hat on, so it should be okay!"

"But-"

"You shouldn't judge, she might have an idea." Heather broke in. "You're the one whose _barely_ covering up, actually teasing people. So am I. Since she's just being casual about her nudity, doesn't that make her less of a pervert display than you?"

"_But I'm not naked._" Lindsay repeated.

"Hey," Geoff said with a nervous laugh, "Maybe Heather's right! In fact, I don't think I should say anything about this even though I _really_ want to, because look at me! Heh heh! Open pink shirt and these stupid little blue pants! So the only one who should judge our fashion is Leshawna!"

"Aaaaand speaking of her..." Heather said, giving the microphone another flip and lightly trying to push Gwen off of the seat. "Leshawna, you're up."

* * *

><p><strong>(Leshawna's Interview)<strong>

Gwen huffed back to her normal seat in the bleachers, where she and Lindsay proceeded to cast glares at eachother. The replacement, Leshawna, huffed as well.

"Alright girl," She said, "I know what you're doin'. You're tryin' to turn everybody against eachother."

"_Guilty!_" Heather sang. "But I'm a changed woman. I'm only asking for the truth, and using the truth to bring out everyone's differences. The old me would have made up lies and rumors, so this is me being nice."

"Something bad happens to Gwen and I'll _show you_ being nice."

"Q-q-quick!" Geoff shouted, leaping off the chair and back on, reseating himself between Heather and Leshawna. "Fav final five?"

"Well Gwen and I are gonna have a hopefully _mature_ discussion about this, but Beth. Ever since Sadie turned to the dark side, she's been the nicest person left in the game. And I like the way she sticks it up for Courtney. A good friend always saving one-another."

"Time in Zekitunakwa?"

Leshawna rolled her eyes. "Pfft. That was the most boring place I've ever been. I was really engaged for the contestants. It's a shame I never got to face off against Eva myself. While I would never give up my slot with being on the same team as Gwen, I wonder what bein' on the other team woulda' been like."

"And now it's my turn." Heather said, immediately getting a reaction from Leshawna.

"Ohhhhh nooooo you don't." She shook her palms out, "I'm not fallin' for whatever cliff you're trying to push me off. Just ask the questions."

"You said you liked Beth, and right when you went into the Car of Failure, you forgave Courtney for her plan to vote you off since she didn't really vote you off. Now... while Courtney was the one who came up with the plan, Lindsay and Beth followed it through - and, mind you, Courtney _changed her mind_ about that. _They_ not only betrayed their own leader, but they're the reason why you're here. Not me. Not Courtney. Doesn't that mean you hate Beth too?"

"A girl can forgive."

"Okay, okay... this is unexpected..." Heather tapped her chin. "I'm gonna have to go a little deeper with _you_ than with _Gwen._ Huh, I thought it would be the other way around... okay, question unrelated to what you think about the other campers. Oh, I got one: What would you really do if you were on the other team? Bridgette called you there? And, to make your answer less obvious, let's just say that Eva was the only you switched places with."

Leshawna's eyes shrunk. "Oh... well uh, I would... um... first, put Izzy into commission." She pounded her palm at that. "Bridgette's good, I guess. And as for Katie and Sadie... even if they don't get with Eva across the teams, I'll still try to keep them away from eachother in the game. So that they won't be dragging us down."

"Are you sure you wanna do that though?" Heather tossed the microphone into the air, catching it. "You think it's better if they make it far into the game then for them to just be themselves and get voted off if they fail, securing Bridgette and Izzy to make it far if the three of you can pull together?"

"What. No, because I want an alliance with all of my friends. And I'm sure Gwen and I would still be close even if we ain't on the same team."

"You may not be the next me or Eva, but you sure care more about the money than other's happiness. Whose to say that you didn't stop something when you could have had the chance to? For someone so bent on stopping Eva, you were around when she was starting to rise to power. Barely, but still, what did you do while Izzy and Bridgette were bickering over a potential enemy? _Nothing._ Your mind was on how much you were going to leave if your team lost, and that might have been why Katie and Bridgette are so miserable now."

Holding her hands to her head, standing up, and walking off back to the bleachers without blinking, Leshawna gave a low "No I'm not."

"Katie." Heather said while twirling around the mic. "Katie Katie Katie Katie _Kaaaaaaaatie._ You're next."

* * *

><p><strong>(Katie's Interview)<strong>

While she may have shot straight up from the bleachers, her first action right after was to put her fists right up against her chest and look around her fellow eliminated-contestants. Leshawna in particular shrank back. Heather was the only one in the area with a remote expression of joy on her face, the other three on the bleachers giving Katie direct sour looks. After a deep breath in, she slipped her way out, avoiding as much contact as possible, and made it between the two talk-show hosts.

"Alright! Let me try to defuse everything _again_!" Geoff cried. "I uh...

"...Have nothing. So! Five favorite final five final... _you heard me before_, you know what I'm trying to uh... look, I know you're gonna say Sadie, but-"

"Well, Sadie would have been my answer, but then I found out Eva was tricking both of us and she chose to both stay on the game and vote me off. And now... I'm too sad to think clearly!"

"Uh... can you try? I think I know what Bridgette wants to say, and Lindsay, so you're my last hope at _some_ tension breaking!"

"With Lindsay gone and Sadie working for... _her_, I have to say that Beth is my only real friend left in the game!"

"And what do you think about your time spent in Zekitunakwa?"

She broke down in tears, head falling on her hands.

"Horrible! I lost my best friend after finding out what a _jerk_ she was! I got shoved into a slide and it hurt! My only friends in the game were manipulating scumbags or Sadie who I found out would rather hang aroung a manipulating scumbag than _meeeee!_" She sent out another flood of cries after that. Geoff inched away from her, while Heather smirked. "But now that it's over I think I can just move on with my life! Become my own person! Or something like that!"

"I think this means it's my turn!" The game's original manipulator said, as she thrusted the helmet on her. "So, Katie, related to my last question to Leshawna, we all know and saw how your alliance went with Eva when she chose Sadie over you. But do you honestly think it will be _any different_ if she picked you over Sadie? For one reason or another? I mean, she chose Sadie just because of her body type, more-or-less."

She finally got her head up to a more usual position, just to cast a brief look. "Yes. I already knew she was bad way before she started her 'I like you more than your best friend'."

"_Good._ You can clearly make me think that you are on higher moral ground than Sadie was. Although..." Heather twirled around the microphone. "That's funny. I could swear that you almost did the same thing to Sadie back when we were an alliance."

"What?"

"Yeah... that's right... I left her out to get eliminated by the interns. And what did you do? Follow after me. You kept going, and going, and going. Even after Beth lost. It wasn't until we dropped you that you got shot. And after that... oh, _what happened after that...?_"

"I pulled down your bikini, nutbrain." Leshawna interjected.

"I was being sarcastic, stupid." She briefly looked over at the commentor. "I remember that day like it was yesterday. Because that was the only memorable day until today in this game."

"It might not be part of the game," Gwen seemed to be lightening up, laughing a little, "But what about when the pipes broke down and-"

"Memorable in a _good_ way! And that includes the bad memories _you_ might have! Like, and this is what I was _going_ to say, when Lindsay gave up her Guilded Zeke to Gwen!"

Katie sniffled. "What does that have to do with-"

"It means that a desperate, dependant, moronic, life-failing, easily-negatively-influenced blonde idiot has more sense than you. And yes, I was calling myself bad back there. But it's worth it. So if you're really going to drop Sadie from your group of friends, you should know that you're far from the best-natured one. I know, Lindsay didn't give away the Zeke and rebelled against me until after you were gone, but it's better late than never, right?"

"O... okay, we all made mistakes, now am I done?"

"No. Because I still technically only asked you one question. Everything else was statements. Or um, what's the word, rhetorical."

Katie looked at Geoff, who could only shrug at this point.

"So are you gonna tell me the last question?"

"Well I was going to ask you the same thing again, only with what I said from before stuck in your mind, but while that would be cool... it's also kind of limited. I think I already know what you would say. Yes, followed by crying and running off like a scared rabbit."

"I don't do that!"

"So my last question to you will be: If you could go back in time, what would you have done differently in the first episode? And remember, if you do too well of a 'job,' I might still be on Zekitunakwa, happily laying on my back in the middle of the lake thinking about how getting to the final five has gotten me so close to the cash."

"Um... well..." Katie was scratching the back of her neck. "Time travel... is impossible... but... if it wasn't... I would have to lose to get eliminated with Sadie! No wait, but then I would be helping out the girl I hate second to only Eva! Wait, do I know about any of this?"

"Of course you do. The more you know of the future, the more you think about changing the past, and the more interesting listening to talk about it gets. Pretend that the time travel was given to you _right now._"

"I would um... laugh at Sadie - but that might make her become a worse person, and I kind of hate her for the way she is now. So... I would just slip past Sadie, follow close behind you since you seemed to know how to dodge the interns, but far enough so you think I got lost... yeah, go that way to avoid bumping into Courtney, maybe give Beth a little wave to let her know that I was on her side the entire time, and finally, jump at you before you could pull the table move, and bolt out the door! Lindsay and Leshawna would not have to be shot and humiliated, and Gwen... well, Gwen didn't anyway. I guess that makes me the new captain?"

"And yet the thought of formally dropping the alliance never comes to you..."

Katie blinked. "You can only ask two questions. And I thought- how far back does this time machine go?"

"I know. And I don't need to any more proof." She guestured at the current interviewie. "Ladies and Geoff, say hello to Heather Two Point Oh."

"What?"

"Isn't it obvious? You said you would have betrayed a person who thought she was your friend at the time, your highest priorities were to win over being a friendly person, and, to let you in on a little secret that we turn out to share, you're _still_ mad about your elimination."

All she could do was stare right into the active camera. "I'm... I'm..." And then point at the interviewer. "You. I'm you. Huh."

She stood up, walking back to the seats with no further expression. The only thing she said on the way was another "Huh," when she got there.

"Two more!" Heather cried. "Bridgette, you're up!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Bridgette's Interview)<strong>

The nature girl still held that same expression as she made her way to the seats, only she refused to look at either host when she first sat down.

"My favorite final five camper is Eva."

This resulted in the gasps of everyone. Including Heather.

"W-well... that's a little overreaction to being eliminated by her..." Geoff said, "Don't you think? And that's not another question, that's-"

"It's not because of my elimination, it's because Izzy is by long and by far the _least_ of the final five who deserves being there, and Eva is the only one who wants her gone more than anybody else."

"If you don't mind a member of the audience asking a question," Gwen raised up her hand, "But why do you think Beth should be in the finals more than Izzy? I mean, that is if you remember Beth and didn't forget that she's still active... or even in the final five, at that."

Hearing a disgusted "Ugh!" and gasp from Lindsay, Gwen turned back to her and snapped.

"Will you stop overreacting to every negative thing I say about your friends? That's not gonna make me like you more."

Geoff was quick to snatch the mic, and after fumbling around with it, he got out: "Hey, hey, hey... we should save your little conflict for a time that's not so... busy."

"He's actually right." Heather added, "I'm too busy trying to crack Bridgette. We should wait until _you_ become our guest, Lindsay, because then we'll have a _much better shot_ to milk this for all it's worth."

The interviewie continued. "I think Beth deserved her spot because she took the game straight and played it seriously the entire time. I mean she did hold a grudge against Lindsay for a long time, and she did break off from _her_ ally's plan, but both of those worked."

"Worked?" Geoff asked.

"Yes. She knew that voting off Leshawna would get her what Courtney wanted: A longer chance to stay. And since Courtney didn't vote for her, but instead gave a throwaway vote since she thought she was going home, that means that it wasn't Courtney, the only one who threatened Leshawna off, who went against her word. And while Beth and Lindsay went against Courtney's deal, it was for a good cause and a strategy move that tried to upset as little people as possible. Lindsay, tell Beth that was a brilliant move from you two."

"Wait..." the other blonde said, "That was just a... throwaway vote? You mean Courtney really didn't want me to lose?"

"Well, nobody knows unless she says something about it. We might have to wait for that 'after-game' Aftermath."

"Oh, shoot! I guess we fought for no reason!"

"_That's what I've been trying to tell you since you got here!_" Gwen cried, "Wow! Why do people listen to Bridgette over me?"

"Anyway," continued Bridgette as she counted off the other members of the final five, "Courtney had some real strategy what she did. She was in danger of being voted off early, and needed to stay on the game, so she found the best way to do it. She found common ground with Lindsay and Beth, formed a friendship from that, and used their dislike of Gwen for one dumb reason or another to get her voted off instead of Courtney. Sadie stuck with a promising ally, and stayed with her no matter what happened. She lost a friendship, and that was bad, but at least she knows how to play the game! And Eva, she picks her targets, and gets them out of here. I'm proof of that. So is Katie. Not only did she get both of _us_ kicked off, but she's after Izzy, and that's her best way to do it while still keeping her as an old team member. While all Izzy did was lie, cheat, and ultimately break the only friends she was about to have."

"I..." Geoff said, "Still think you're overreacting. So, question two? And by that I mean- you do know what I mean, right?"

"My time here was actually pretty great! If you ignore Heather and... the entire rest of my own team. No offense Katie, but... the part about _you_ that made my stay not great was that I didn't know you were honest when you were complaining about her. But now... well, I'm sorry."

"Are you really?" Heather asked, "Because, as I proved before, she was a second me. And yes, that was my first question to you."

"I still am." She snapped back. "Because she's nothing like you."

"But she is! The selfishness and everything!"

"At least she isn't _cruel_ like you or does it on purpose. I can... kind of understand someone forced into the spotlight and made to think another way. Even if she has some intent of trying to better her friends, shouldn't she know that it's just a game?"

"Ah, and what a hypocrite you are. 'It's just a game.' And you think that Izzy getting you kicked off was not 'just a game' because...? And yes, that's my second question."

"It's very... complicated."

"And centered on _you_, yes, go on..."

"No. There is a _really_ big difference between on the spot thinking about making someone lose the challenge, and having an hour to make an obvious choice... and not going with that choice. She went for a very, very pity grudge. _And_ if she made the choice, then we would have taken down Eva's accomplise _at least_ and I wouldn't even know it!"

"Hm... you didn't see the obvious connection... how stupid are you, again?"

Bridgette stood up, ripping the helmet off. "Okay, you can only ask two questions. That was two."

Heather leaned back, peeved while Bridgette casually called out "Lindsay! I think you're next!" and added an "And hopefully last, because I _so_ want this to be over..." under her breath.

* * *

><p><strong>(Lindsay's Interview)<strong>

To even more dismay, the final contestant came running down to the seats, sitting right between the pair of hosts. While Heather's wish that she would back away from her was granted, it was only granted by means of Lindsay closing in on the other interviewer while trying to stick the helmet over her hat.

"Geoff Geoff Geoff Geoff!" She cheered, "Maybe you can be a lot more nice than all of these other people here."

Gwen gave a mock-gasp from the crowd, down to trying to replicate Lindsay's facial expression. But she couldn't. Her face quickly broke into a laugh, with Leshawna trying to hold back one on her own.

"That's the spirit!" Geoff cried back, "Now, who is your favorite member of the final five?"

"Beth, duh, what kind of question is that?"

"It's um... a pre-planned question. Some of you, like... _Bridgette_, don't have obvious answers. And I wanted to be fair here."

"So what are you going to do in the second Aftermath? I mean, how can you ask the final five which of the final five they like? Sadie will be the only one who gives a good answer, and that's because she will still think that being a brainless idiot who kisses up to Eva is a good idea."

"HEY!" Katie beamed. "If you're gonna hate it when someone insults you or Beth, at least be nice yourself!"

"WELL..." Geoff tried to cut in, "I honestly don't know what I'm gonna do in the final Aftermath. I uh... we have a different set of questions, but Heather and I finally agreed - for once on something - that we should wait until after the finale before I think of my questions. Which sucks, because that only gives me an hour to think them up. So I was thinking of keeping the second question the same, 'How was your time on Zekitunakwa-'"

"Great!" Lindsay answered, "I got to make new friends, meet a lot of cool people... I even befriended a stuck-up prep and turned her into someone nicer!"

"Um, you didn't do that, Beth did." Gwen commentated. "If anything, Courtney _hated_ you before Beth stepped in. _She's_ the glue. That's why Courtney voted for you instead of her when you guys were busy making Courtney look bad to Leshawna."

Lindsay replied with a glare, before adding, "_Anyway,_ that was my time on _camp._ My time here, on the other hand... the people I thought I like but really didn't, they're all here right now except for Eva. And maybe Sadie. She's kind of a traitor, and she's now stuck with Beth."

Gwen gave a mock-gasp again, which was met with a slightly less amused response from Leshawna.

"How many more times are you gonna do that?" She asked. "'Cuz the gasps are gettin' a little tiring even when Lindsay did them."

The goth rose three fingers. "Ever heard of the Rule of Three? Any more times than three, and it stops being funny."

Back on the spotlight couch, Heather drew a deep breath in. Her face was up against the mic, clearly trying to use its amplification to draw their attention. "Okay." She said upon exhale. "Sorry about sounding rude, it's my last go and I want to savor the moment. Unlike Geoff here."

"I was savoring the moment! Or at least, I wanted to, like by talking about the curveballs and stuff that this game threw at me. You know, Lindsay, I honestly thought you would be in the final five at this point and I wouldn't have to ask you that question that sounds pointless when it's asked to you."

"Aw!" The nude contestant said.

"_But_ that's because he expected _Beth_ to be going home some time instead!" Heather gave the microphone another flip. "Now, question one. Or... three? Twenty-one? Either way, it's the second-to-last interview question! But don't worry, I'll be easy to you. Now, what would you do if I _wasn't_ voted off first? Assuming that the rest of the first episode stayed the same. Meaning that _you still would have betrayed me._"

"Wha-wha-wha... but _who_ would be voted off instead?"

"Let's face it, Courtney got into the final five on a tightrope." She turned back to the gallery. "Bridgette, like you said, Izzy wasn't doing so good either. But compared to Courtney she had an entire sidewalk to march down on! And let's just say that Gwen got stuck with me on her team, just like Courtney did at first."

She closed her eyes, leaned her hair back, and said, "Well, going by... only the universe where... Courtney was voted off first... I would say that I would have joined an alliance with Gwen and Leshawna, and make my act better so that they would actually like me! And then, we get Beth too, and the four of us can-"

The lights on her helmet turned red, a change that was accompanied by a pretty loud buzz. This made Geoff, Katie, and Bridgette lean their heads back in horror, while Heather raised a brow, Leshawna somehow gave a strong blink, and Gwen gasped. That last action was far less of such a large intake that she felt the need to turn over to Leshawna and say, "And no, that doesn't count."

"Oh, shoot, I almost forgot about that..." Lindsay said.

"We didn't." Heather giggled. "After all, you're wearing a head-piece on a head-piece. And nothing else. But going back to the question, you would have came crawling right back to me with your tail between your legs, wouldn't you?"

"Maybe..." The lights turned back into a soothing green. "But I would have done to you what we did to Courtney!" Then red, with another buzz. "Make _you_ get the back end of everything!" Buzz. "I know Beth and I can control the alliance!" Buzz. "And we can get Katie and Sadie on our side!" Buzz. "They'll make it better!" Buzz. "And it's all because... _because I hate you!_"

It finally turned green again. Heather shrugged.

"Well, you never really told me the _truth_ truth, but to be honest, I don't care. Now, for the final question - _and_ the end of our first Aftermath special: What do you think makes me so different from Courtney? Of course, you can take off the helmet now, I think I already know the answer. I just want you to _publically announce it._"

Lindsay's head tilted back and forth as she tried to come up with an answer. "Well... I think it's clearly because of Gwen. I mean, both you and her hated her, and she hated you and her and me, but... the _kind_ of hate was _different_, you know?"

Gwen gasped yet again, much to the annoyance of Leshawna. Noticing her look, she added, "Okay, I'm done. That was three."

"You saw us as puppets, and Courtney as an enemy. But Gwen saw all three of us as just... these annoying girls. And _that's_ what made us team up a lot easier after you were kicked off! You don't really hate us for the same... reasons as ourselves?"

"Hm..." Heather noted with a nod, "Interesting."

"I treated you like some annoying girls because you _are._" Gwen spoke back up again. "Beth, with her villanizing everyone she comes across, overreacting to everything, and being creepy overall. Courtney, who acts like she'll die of a heart attack if she isn't on the top of the world. And you. You can't take _any_ critisism! At all!"

"_Izzy's_ becoming better at that than you." Bridgette muttered under her breath.

Clenching her fists, Lindsay marched back to the gallery, only instead of returning to her seat, she shot a look to Gwen.

"Say that again."

The goth only laughed. "What are you going to do, hit me? I _bet_ I'm stronger than you anyway, and even if I'm not, all you're doing is proving me right!"

"Shut up! Okay, I know I'm not perfect, but Beth and Courtney are still in the game! They're at the final five, too!"

"Yeah, because of your _brilliant_ plans to kick us off. If I was still in the game, I could out Eva and convince the other team to vote her off like _that._" She snapped her fingers. "If we kicked you out instead, then Eva would be gone before Katie and Bridgette and they would still have their little rose-tinted glasses about Sadie and Izzy."

"Are you saying that you're better than us?"

"No, I'm saying that _you're_ worse than _me._ There is a difference."

"That's it-..."

"WAIT WAIT WAIT!" Geoff cried, standing on the cushion and waving his arms around for extra emphasis. "I just rembered something! We have a second, shorter segment! Uh... we're reading fanmail! I don't know why, heh heh, because this show isn't even supposed to _air_ until we shoot the finale, but let's see if people liked the _idea_ enough to send something in. After all, people who like the idea more than how its done might be the _truly_ devoted fans, since they can stick around after they don't like it."

Lindsay halted her aggression to ask, "Is that true?"

She didn't get an answer. Only an intern walking out with a rather limp, empty-looking sack. Geoff furiously grabbed at it and dug through, giving out an "A-ha!" Not long after and withdrawing a letter.

"We only have one! I hope it's long! Oh, look, this one is adressed to me! Cool! From Zeksmit682, we have..."

After ignoring what the username might imply and tearing it to shreds, he looked at the contents and frowned. First at the length, then at how much the writer managed to put _in_ that short length:

"'Dear Geoff: You're fired yo. Sign Ezekiel?' Is this a joke?"

"It's not, eh."

All seven of the people present (the intern had since left) turned to the roof, where the main host himself was currently standing. Not for long, because right after, he took a dive into the central swimming pool, emerging and spitting out a stream of water. All while having a surprisingly deadpan look on his face.

"Y-y-you're firing me? How?"

"How?" He shrugged. "Like I just did. By sending you a letter, and tricking you into thinking that it's fanmail."

"Okay, I mean... why?"

"Oh, that. Because you're not really doing your job."

"But- I asked both questions I got to all of the campers! Six times!"

"That's not what I mean. I mean that you were supposed to either stop the drama before it becomes a little too much, or at _least_ make it a little more interesting. Just... not be completely boring. I'm sorry, but I don't think Aftermath hosting is a job cut-out for you eh."

"Well- what does this-"

"We're still friends, so I can help you out." It was here that Ezekiel finally began climbing out of the pool. "But for now, pack your bags in three days, and meet us in the Mess Hall by the next challenge. We'll have something figured out by then."

"But-"

"How long are you going to blame him?" Lindsay cut in, "Come on! You agree with me, right? Gwen is the one you should blame instead!"

Leshawna moved from her seat to try to press Lindsay and Gwen apart from eachother. "Hold on now, hold on. Before you do anything you might regret, let me ask you something: Why don't you stop picking on eachother, and focus on something we can all agree on?"

"What? Something about heart?"

"That we all hate Heather. And Eva. I mean, think about it, she's the only reason why most of us are so down tonight. Can't you see that she's trying to turn you all against eachother? On purpose? Maybe she means what she says, and maybe some of what you did or felt are facts and all, but we should be usin' those to do things other than... well, other than _not_ beatin' on Heather."

"For saying these _facts_?" Heather laughed, "Face it. You said it too. On a lie detector."

"Yeah, but we know why we don't like eachother now, and we can _do somethin'_ about it! Lindsay, do you really think that turning into a ball of mad everytime someone says something you don't like is gonna get you any more friends?"

She had everything ready to speak. The finger in the air, the confident expression, even an intake of air - yet when it came to the actual words, she was lost. A second later, and she lowered her head with a sigh.

"Exactly. Now, you betrayed Izzy. If you followed her plan, she might have gotten Eva to lose the invincibility, she would have gone home, and you could have stayed longer without that pesky body builder staying around camp. But I can't stay too mad at you, since you garunteed me yet another three days without having to see that creep."

"Hey! Who said I had to agree with Izzy?"

"Well, you said you would when she asked, didn't you?"

"But-"

"And _I_ followed _Courtney's_ stupid plan. The one where we shifted our weight to one side. And look where that ended up."

Lindsay slumped even more.

"So I think you owe Team Izzy another chance."

"But... Heather and Bridgette's part of Team Eva, Gwen's part of Team Sadie, and Leshawna, Katie, and I are part of Team Beth. Nobody picked Izzy to win. Or Courtney, for that matter. Hm... Courtney... Two girls I feel like I let down, and no one was rooting for them. I want to change my vote, I mean I hope I'm not jinxing Beth by saying this, but I think she has enough support already. Then again, I don't know which one to go under... my friend... or the girl I betrayed?"

"Exactly." She said, trying to ignore that Katie broke into another fit of tears, which started up since Lindsay said her name.

Now giggling, Lindsay slid back into the seats, past a disturbed Gwen and right between her former teammates. "Okay, I understand. Now, group hug!"

While Gwen silently backed away, Leshawna pushed her off with an explanation.

"Ohhhh no you don't." She said. "Put some clothes on first."

Frowning, she muttered, "But I already have clothes on..."

* * *

><p><strong>(Aftermath ConfessionalDressing Room)**

Bridgette: Well, it's good to see that _their_ team got a friendly reunion. And since Beth and Lindsay are almost inseperable, when Beth gets here they'll like her too. Courtney's the only wild card. But my team? It's only me and Katie, and we can't even talk! Thanks to Izzy and Eva's _stupid game_ and Sadie turning into her dog, Katie's left a blubbering wreck who needs help. And I don't know how to help her! Everytime I try to talk to her, she thinks I'm gonna act like Izzy and treat her like some enemy. I keep trying and trying to say that I'm nothing like her, and- ugh. It's gonna be a disaster when one of them comes here. And there's only nine days left before that happens, and that's _if_ Beth and Courtney are voted off in the next two challenges!

Heather: Well... it looks like Leshawna and Lindsay bounced back from my awesome psychology. Which is impressive, since I took a class on it. And I know I'm the only one at this mansion who did. It makes sense, since I'm the popular one, and everyone else is either a social reject or too dumb to understand. Well, the important thing is that Gwen is still mad at Lindsay... but that's not gonna last. Hm. Shoot. Oh! I know I still have Katie and Bridgette in bad moods - or, they were when they first got here, so I don't know if I did anything. The point is, once episode 13 rolls in, I'll be ready and none of these losers will. *Twirls her microphone around.* And becides, I have a second chance when the next Aftermath comes by...

* * *

><p>"So, do I do the signoff?" Geoff asked.<p>

"Um, yeah eh. Even though you're not the host anymore, I always thought that the host or hosts will be the one to take the signoff. I mean that is what would have happened if I didn't come here myself. And since Heather's still not back from the confessional and I'd like to get back to Zekitunakwa for some quick challenge testing, before Justin starts without me." He laughed. "Trust me, I _really_ wanna be a part in playing around with this next challenge."

"Okay then! Well, that's it for our former competetors, but what about the people still in the game? We'll get back to them, in our final five special, next time, on Total! Zeksmit! Plains!"

"...Wow, can you believe Ezekiel showed up?" Lindsay asked, still seated between a visibly discomforted Gwen and Leshawna. "It's kind of surprising, isn't it?"

"Why?" Said Bridgette as she stepped out of the manor's opening doors, "This is where he lives between challenges, remember?"

"Oh."

* * *

><p><strong>(Zeksmit ClipzKathy's Audition?)**

After several seconds of static, dark green was the first thing that filled the camera screen. Crunching noises were heard, and tilting the camera revealed that the mass of twigs and branches the holder was stepping on. The teal coloring of the holder's pants left no ambiguity as to who was holding, their voice confirming it.

"Yo, what's up, Ezekiel Smithy here. And this week on _Weird Stuff to Look for_, I investigate the myth of the creature that stalks Compass City's Southern Forest! Huh. I need to come up with a shorter name.

"Or, I _would_, but I don't know that much about it. Nobody does. Just that it's a tall thing with red eyes and a laugh. I'd bring my friends Geoff and Blaineley with me, but Geoff would just be too loud and Blaineley hates going out here. So you're left with just me."

He finally directed the camera at his face - he was noticably younger, his facial hair currently absent, and the teeth in his following grin somehow being less straight.

"Whasson, Canada."

Turning it back, he continued yet again. "So I have to admit that I only picked today thanks to something I saw off a website. This Cody Anderson weirdo. He figured out that this creature likes to make its appearances in patterns - it was only ever sighted on a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 13th, or 21st of any given month. And it's sighted a _lot_, by teens that come here to make out."

He briefly halted. "Comments saying that I'm not one of those teens will be deleted. I'm still thirteen, by the way, the age where that stuff is barely not gross anymore."

Finally, he heard some rustling other than his own. Something up in the treetops.

"Alright, watch this."

He set the camera on a nearby stump, then ran off screen. When he came back, he had a full bow in his hands, loading up an arrow. As he aimed, his eyes opened up a bit when he heard giggling coming from it, prompting him to nod and fire.

Kathy fell out of the leaves and branch cluster. She let out a cry, but it sounded more like something of an annoyance. Pacing over to the camera, he grabbed it again and faced it at her. Yep. Right on target. Embarassingly, on her butt, but it was still a hit. The screen notably got lower when he registered what he did.

"A... girl?" He asked. "Oh no, I hit a girl!"

"Relax," Kathy plucked the arrow, looking at the tip. "I will retain my blood. As long as this didn't have any copper, silver, or gold in it."

"Oh. Sorry about that, eh, I just thought you were a monster."

"You don't have to feel any remorse," she started standing up, appearing to get a look at him, "I risked my being. I could have moved out of the way. I just stayed there because I foretold myself you would miss. And I want people to see I'm a monster. When I'm here, anyway."

"Why?"

"To raise more minds. Start more conspiracies. There are several mysteries out there, and only by making more obvious ones can the people really know about the ones that are hidden deep down. Like, the bad crap our government might be doing."

"Huh. And you can't like, get arrested for that or something?"

"Nope! I'm just a visitor who happens to hang out in the trees!"

"That sounds kind of cool. I'm Ezekiel, by the way," he offered his hand, "Ezekiel Smithy."

"...Kathy ...Ikaname." She was reluctant to shake it, but eventually did. "You think you can be an... assistant of mine?"

"A guy? Assisting a girl? Ha!" He turned himself away from her, pointing the camera back at his face. Behind him, Kathy glared - not at him, at the lens. "That concludes this Zeksmit Weird Thing Huntin' special! Be sure to tune in for another episode!"

It clicked to black. Then to Kathy, now from within a dark room.

"_Well._ Funny turn of events. For such a bigshot who thinks he's above working with a girl, you dropped your camera. Normally I would burn this, but since you're the only person in the year I've been stalking out to actually come and find me, I'll give you a second chance. I'm going to put this into the Lost and Found, and hide a note in it with my address. Come there, and we'll talk things out again. And I know you'll want to arrive to get _this_ back:"

She held up his toque.

"You dropped that too. So come and get it. That is, if you have any sentimental value for this hat. You probably don't, but what do I know? It might be something you like to wear. It might be a treasured family thing. Meh. Still though, you got your hat held hostage by a girl. That should mean something to a guy like you."

Static.

* * *

><p><strong>Still In:<strong> Beth, Courtney, Eva, Izzy, Sadie

**Eliminated:** Heather, Gwen, Leshawna, Katie, Bridgette, Lindsay

* * *

><p><strong>Closing AN:<strong>

Somehow, this turned out longer than I expected. Still currently the third-shortest chapter, but still. Long.

I don't have anything else to say except that I kind of made things up as I wen't along. Oh, and believe me, the next time the eliminated contestants appear, I'll try to make what they went through here to be meaningful, so it doesn't come off as "filler except Geoff got fired."

Next up: **Beware of Homer**. The final five kicks things up by the way of introducing an obstacle with all sorts of crazy powers, finally putting solidity to Kathy's earlier words. But is this mask that "Homer" wears holding a bigger secret?


	8. Beware of Homer

**Total Zeksmit Plains**

**Chapter 8: Beware of Homer**

* * *

><p>A can was kicked a few steps ahead, and after taking those steps, Geoff kicked it again.<p>

"Stupid Ezekiel." He said under his breath, hands in his pant-pockets as he continued following the road, kicking the can to go with him. "I leave to take _one_ wiz and he's taken all of my stuff, packed it here, and asked me to come over to watch one last challenge before the Car of Failure drops me back off. My stupid car broke down as soon as I got here, too. Why should I even go to the camp? PDL's on the way to the exit, he could just take me back to Compass City _after_ whoever loses gets kicked off! Urgh! He thinks _I_ can't plan my job to be entertaining! _He's_ the one who makes stupid mistakes like this! I'll show him."

He looked at the metal he was kicking for some time now. One "hm" later, and it was in his hands.

"He likes his pretty little campground so much. Well... I'll make sure to throw this somewhere he hates!"

He raised his head when he heard some voices coming from the Mess Hall.

"Well that's weird." Geoff's own words were quieter. "It's five in the morning. Justin doesn't really have anyone with him, does he? Is this some kind of secret alliance?"

He made his way closer, noting that the door was cracked open. Putting his eye on the same location as it, he could see Ezekiel and Justin snickering as the former stuffed something yellow-gold on something else that was hidden by the doorframe. Geoff pushed it a little more, wincing when it creaked, and saw what looked like the back of a bizarre yet familiar body costume of a certain animated figure. Ezekiel, putting on the finishing touches, turned the "head" he had put on just before a few inches. It locked in place.

"I'm glad you're okay with taking this off later and then putting it back on tonight." Ezekiel said. "Because I _really_ wanna send you on another test run. Seriously, you're awesome."

"I agree, Mr. Simpson." Justin joked, "This is so worth the copyrights I had to go through to greenlight this idea."

Behind the door, Geoff smirked.

"I'll show him." He whispered. "Maybe I can ruin his stupid little project."

He kicked the door open with a proud "HIYA!" and tossed the can with all of his might, landing square on the bald yellow head of the strange, larger-than-normal character.

Ezekiel and Justin turned to him with lightning-fast reflexes, while the person who was _definitely_ in a large Homer Simpson body costume turned at a far slower rate.

"Geoff?" The first asked, the latter _still_ turning.

"'Homer''s got the right idea." Justin said. "He's doing that uncanny head-turn thing. That's the thing we all agreed on that he'll use to unnerve the people he captures. Why don't we make this final test run on our little eavesdropper? It might not be as interesting as seeing him curb-stomp a bear, but-"

He was interrupted by his own wish. In a blur, Homer vanished and Geoff felt a dark breeze behind him. One slow turn of his own, and the last thing he saw before blackness was the golden figure tossing up a hand with a cape underneath.

He screamed.

*Cue intro.*

* * *

><p><strong>(Mess Hall)<strong>

Courtney's eyes explored the far ends of the mess hall, now far later than the time where it was used as the spot of a host's capture.

"Okay, this is creeping me out now." She said, getting the attention of all three table mates. "It's _lunch_ and Ezekiel _still_ hasn't said anything or announced a challenge or- is he even _here?_ He's usually telling us that there's at least something before breakfast!"

"I haven't seen him at all either." Beth, one of said tablemates, shrugged. "And Justin's being very quiet. Every time I ask him about Ezekiel or our challenge, he just closes his eyes, leans his head down, and smiles."

"You don't think Ezekiel forgot the day or even the challenge, right?" Sadie asked.

"No, because if he did, Justin would remind him, and then he would mock him." Izzy completed having all members of that table contributing to the discussion. "Maybe he's just skipping a day. Like when we went camping. We could have two days in a row. Because the next challenge will take a lot more work than he planned, so he's still fixing it up to make it more brutal!"

"Okay, _you_ can stop talking." Courtney shuddered. "Every time you make a guess about the show, it's never a good guess."

"Like whenever you say that you think anyone who loses is taken to a slaughter house, where they make some of the meat for us." Beth added.

"Heh. And you'll thank me for breaking free from that butcher place when I'm voted off, so I can escape back here and warn the rest of you survivors. The question is, how many survivors would that be? I'm already down to four. By the way, you should really learn some survival skills, you know. Like lock-picking. I actually tought Sadie how to do a really cool lock picking, as long as you have a blade of grass and a strand of hair."

"Oh, right!" Courtney snapped her fingers. "We're in the final five now! I keep thinking that we're in the final four because... well..."

All four of them looked to Eva. Already done with her meal and staring at the faces of Beth, Courtney, and Izzy she carved into her own table, before X'ing them out in that order. She did this to the last face repeatedly, before uttering "And I would make it look like an accident".

"Eva's been a lot more quiet too." Beth noted. "Say, Sadie, you used to work with her before Izzy gave you that talk and you seem to be reconsidering, do you at least know what _she's_ doing?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Sadie: Used to? *Scratches back, looking away from camera.* Oh, ha ha ha...

* * *

><p>"Nope! Ever since I chose bunking with you guys over her plans, she's been keeping them a secret. You know she doesn't come up with them until the challenge starts, sooooo..."<p>

"So you're useless." Courtney blurted. As if facing a second-long delay between speaking and thinking, she clapped her hands over her mouth. "I mean... when it comes to finding out about Eva. You're useful for everything else! Uh, I meant to say, you're enjoyable for everything else!"

All three of the other campers only gave her a look, which she replied by grinning.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: Aaaaand both of those are lies.

* * *

><p><strong>(Bleachers)<strong>

As the Car of Failure drove away, Ezekiel flexed his arms and legs around with a relaxed yawn, helped by the darkness of night bringing back some usual diurnal habits of him. Justin was already seated by the bleachers themselves.

"Oh, _man._ Up all night last night and I might be up all night tonight too. Yeah, I may have the farmer's ability to stay awake for a long time, but who knows how much that could impair my hosting skills, Justin? Taking a nap in the day was a pretty good idea. Thanks."

"No problem." Justin said, flicking a hand. "So, are you gonna announce the challenge to the campers now?"

"Yep! Let me just make my way to the announcement room and-"

He was taken down in a gray and green blur. Both of them got up, the host dusting himself off and giving a look at the contestant.

"Alright Ezekiel, I finally found you!" Courtney cried, "Now can you tell us what the challenge is?"

"How did you get here this fast eh?"

"Izzy and I did a stakeout at the mountain and we saw one of the cars, so we just guessed- this isn't about us, it's about you!"

"But it's about the challenge and the challenges are all about you!"

"So what is the challenge? Is it going to be a merge thing where you never tell us what the challenges are until, like, an hour after messing with our heads?"

"Um, no, but I'd rather have all of the campers over here-"

He was then tackled in another blur. This one with a little more green.

"Okay..." Ezekiel creaked. "That's two. But we still need five."

* * *

><p><strong>(Campgrounds)<strong>

"Ladies," Ezekiel announced, bag of marshmallows in one hand. "As you know, I have tossed you twenty-nine marshmallows over the course of this game, yet all of them have been plain white."

"What colors are we supposed to expect?" Izzy asked, "Green? Yellow? Orange? What, is there some blue-with-yellow-sparkles flavor I don't know about?"

"Far, closer, even closer, and not as far as I know. While thirty would be a nice little number for a milstone celebration like **the final five!** It's a coincidence that kind of needed the teams to lose evenly. But still, the first marshmallow I shall pass out for tonight, is the one that will instantly win your challenge."

He spun around the bag in-hand, tossing it out to the direction of the woods. More casually, he retrieved a pink marshmallow from one of his inner jacket pockets.

"Welcome to our first night challenge. Er, challenge that starts in the night. Because what I have here is a scavenger hunt. I am gonna hide this strawberry marshmallow somewhere around the campsite, and you must look around and find it. You may enter pairs, but it's finder's keepers here and whoever touches it wins immunity, so I wouldn't advize it. Now, this is gonna be a pretty boring challenge. You won't get any hints, any clues, any... any..."

He looked at his watch. Justin, seated on the railing of the lakeside/former Buffalo cabin, winced.

"_Come on, man, I don't want to have to come up with a third 'any'..._"

A gold blur slammed into his gut, revealing it as none other than someone in a strange Homer Simpson costume, face looking right at the final five. As with last dawn, the costume seemed a lot bulkier and overall larger than the average human being. This moved in a haze at first, stopping after the shoulder-ram and watching as the pink treat flew through the air. With one swipe of a hand, 'Homer' grabbed it and continued to stare at the campers. He jumped away a second after.

"What." Courtney said.

"Well I would have never seen this coming." Izzy added, blank-eyed as the rest of them.

Sadie had to kneel. "I don't... what?"

Justin sighed. "See Ezekiel, I knew I had to explain this to them."

Still lying on the floor from the attack, that comment from the assistant is what finally got Ezekiel to open his eyes.

"Yeah, maybe my acting was a little too good and they all thought this was a real robbery eh. People have been getting better and better at hiding their identity."

Justin got off of the railing, un-crossing his arms. "Ezekiel saw this video a few months ago on Mytube. About some game with a killer Homer Simpson. From _the Simpsons._ He thought that was amazing, and wanted to do a challenge based on that game, with some extra abilities that he tossed into Homer. If it wasn't obvious, what you have to do after getting dressed in the swimsuits is what he said before: Find the pink marshmallow, except now you have to pry it from Homer's hands. Don't worry, it's kept inside a safe storage unit literally _inside_ his hands by now, so it wouldn't ruin the marshmallowyness of it."

Ezekiel sprung up, running towards the woods.

"Hey!" He cried, "Bear! That's my last bag of those! Sure, I only need around ten of them, but Justin makes the best s'mores and I really don't want to go all the way over to the store this time at night! Do you know how far away that is from here?"

Sure enough, a bear had caught on to the bag, staring at it in curiosity until Ezekiel made a jump for it. All this got him, however, was a short ride on the container, since the brown beast lifted it above its head and ripped the plastic open, the white treats all greedily falling into its mouth. Ezekiel himself was thrown not long after, still clinging onto the bag.

"So..." Courtney was still looking at the spot where the tackle happened, even if nobody was standing at that exact spot any more. "Can we form alliances?"

"Um, yeah," Justin elaborated, "But that stuff about first-come-first-serve still stays. The first one to touch the marshmallow wins."

She nodded. "Okay. I think I know where I saw him jump..."

First the prep ran off, with Izzy and Beth following after. Sadie tried to dash herself, but before she knew it, Eva was already clearing her throat.

"I think we should stick together this time."

* * *

><p><strong>(Beth, Courtney, Izzy)<strong>

"Are you sure this is a good place?" Izzy asked, popping her head into the mess hall shortly after Courtney opened the door and took the first few stepps inside. "Because the last time I was here, with only three of us, and at night..." she shuddered.

"Look," Courtney said as the trio began walking down the rows, "Sadie and Lindsay are nice girls, but when it came to that Kathy scare, you... you were pretty much on your own. I can back up your fighting skills, and Beth... I'm sure Beth knows a thing or too. You saw how she did in that dance game-"

Beth got both of their attentions with a gasp and a point, directed over at the countertop. Instead of the usual Justin, behind it was the blank-staring Homer suit, its wearer making it peek the head up.

"Nobody move." Izzy whispered. "I got the feeling that this thing can smell motion."

With that familiar, part-metalic scream(only not as overly loud as the first time it was heard, not loud enough to be heard from the cliff), Homer made a jump over the stand, landing on a foot, knee, and fist shortly in front of them. Originally looking at the ground, another quick neck-raise and he resumed the death stare.

He charged foreward with a hand stuck out, which looked like it was aimed deliberately between Izzy and Courtney. The former, and later the latter, ducked her head to spot a long and thin slit going from his wrist to before his armpit, from which a black cloth extended from. One swing to the right, Courtney was nearly engulfed by this fabric, and-

She stopped that with a kick to the hand. They stayed locked for but a few moments, as both of them jumped a foot back afterward. Standing down, face-to-face, fists in the air, they gave determined stares to eachother.

"Come and fight me, you... you... cartoon thing!"

This got a short screech out of him, and marked the point where they both ran to eachother once more. Both began with a right hook, Homer's clearly being affected and pushed back more. After a strange hissing sound was heard from him, he started spinning both in place and in a curve to Courtney's back, jabbing one palm up high and one palm up low, both of them knocking her to the floor.

As she stood up, rubbing her head, Courtney took a better look at the costumed being.

"Wait a minute..." she said, "I do that move..."

Izzy took the offense next, leaping in the air and repeatedly trying to kick at him. With one hand (thanks to his above-average size), he blocked the diagonal attack by keeping it over his forehead.

This did not seem to be a memo Izzy got. She continued staying in the air and kicking at the hand, even as Homer started walking backwards until he was right up against a wall.

One dodge breaking into an roll later from him, and Izzy's next kick was a dive out the window.

"I do that move too!" She said, "Upper blocks and big rolls! You're using my fighting style! But the only person I taught that to was..."

Homer dived out after Izzy, just as Courtney gasped. And gave a sly smile.

Behind the window (or, its remains), Homer withdrew that same cape-like item and attempted to throw it over Izzy. She took note of that, too, and rolled through Homer's legs before it could actually capture her. One dive back through the window and into the room again, and Justin was seen peeking his head through the door.

"One last thing I forgot to mention! He _can_ capture you with the capture cape! If he does this, you're out of the challenge!"

"It's okay!" Courtney said in a considerably more upbeat tone than usual. "I think I know who the person in the costume is!"

"You do?" Beth asked.

"Who is it?" Izzy tried to hold back laughs, "Your made-up boyfriend?"

"Yes! And watch this:"

Before Izzy could try to start up another round, Courtney ran between her and the fighting character, giving an arm guesture to Beth to get from the other side to form a triangle with them, Beth being by Izzy's side.

"Hey 'Homer!'" She cried, "If you give us that pink marshmallow, Izzy and I will show you our boobs! And maybe Beth too!"

"I will?" Izzy asked.

"I thought you would you nature freak." She mumbled, directing her attention away from Homer when she did. "It seemed obvious."

Homer put a hand on his chin, looking into the lights. His other hand reached over, grabbing his wrist. Then, in one quick move-

He re-drew the capture cape and tossed it on Courtney.

Somehow, the cloak 'locked' on her after completely going over its target. It clung to the ground, closed in the form more of a shell around her, then of course Homer grabbed the top and turned into another golden blur. Izzy and Beth ran after him just in time to see this light of yellow zig-zagging over to the maze.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Izzy: Yeah, that totally makes sense. Courtney's boyfriend is Homer Simpson. A _fictional_ character. She's making out with the _not-real_ Homer Simpson. Heh. Of course, if she's right, that means he exists, but it's still funny. Maybe even funnier...

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Woods Entrance)<strong>

Eva's eye had caught that beam flying through the air, directing her attention away from looking through the shrubbery. She cringed.

"We looked in the wrong place." She said.

"Yes!" Cheered Sadie, "So we don't have to look through the spooky forest anymore, waiting for a big costume with creepy eyes to jump out at us?"

"Maybe if he hides here next, but at least we have a way of knowing where he'll go. That stupid little light beam will mark the end of him, mock my words."

* * *

><p><strong>(Jail Cell)<strong>

It did not take the CIT that long after being plopped in the cell and Homer both removed the sheet and re-closed the glass to tell what was going on.

"Really?" She asked. "Here again? Is there anything new?"

It was not until after Homer took off again that she noticed Geoff. The ex-Aftermath host gave her a light wave.

"Hi!" He said, "Remember me? From the promo pic?"

"No." Courtney crossed her arms. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Geoff Bacon, the guy who runs the Aftermaths!"

"Oh. Then what the heck are you doing here?"

His eyes went straight for the grass. "Ezekiel fired me. I think he thinks I'm not 'interesting' or 'bold' enough, so that meant Heather kind of kept stealing my job from me. I couldn't contribute 'cuz I was too busy trying to break everybody up. Which I couldn't. So Ezekiel gave me three days to pack and leave, and I was gonna, I was all psyched to leave this stupid show. On the third night I stayed up 'til midnight, 'cuz I was trying to have a party with some of the interns and stuff. Bad idea. When I got back to my room, the door was all locked, and there was a note saying that all my stuff was in the campgrounds, and that I should spend the last day there watchin' the challenge. I got there, my car broke down so I started jogging the rest of the way, made it by sunrise, and then I saw Ezekiel and Justin putting a strange Homer Simpson mask on someone."

"Did you see who it was?"

"By the time I changed my angle and opened the door a little bit, the little head-helmet part was already on and he was fully dressed. Then I got his attention and he suddenly appeared behind me and threw this big black cloth over my head and I felt myself getting pulled over here. After that, Ezekiel told me not to snoop around any more, and when the challenge starts I'll have to be locked back up in this... cage-thing again. Then he let me free and until Homer came out of nowhere and captured me again, I had to live off in the shadows."

"But wait. You're show staff. You didn't know about this challenge?"

"Nope. All Ezekiel said about it was that it was mostly kept a secret, and that he says it's about looking around camp for something. I didn't know there was gonna be a freak Homer Simpson, like in that one video where the guy in the costume attacks the whole party - did you see that? The video called 'Homer's Revenge'?"

"No."

* * *

><p><strong>(Open Plains)<strong>

"Alright, keep an eye out Sadie." Eva ordered. "He's been shooting around the sky for a while now."

Right on time, she pointed in the direction that the golden light finally went straight down on, alerting Eva's attention with a "There!"

"Nice one! He landed in another part of the fields. We may be attacking him in the open, but who knows, that might catch him off guard and that's the exact kind of weakness I need to take that marshmallow right outta his hands. Becides, hiding isn't really my style anyway."

With one war cry, she ran out into the rises in the ground. Fist in the air, shaking; feet practically kicking as her way of walking; body leaned over, as if she was trying to ram into the target. Homer turned to her, but this was nearly a little too late when he was struck to the gut. He let out that same signature metalic cry, and fell to the floor.

"Alright! I got him!" Eva cried as the alliance ran to his feet. "Sadie, see those lines around his arms? I think that's what we're supposed to pull off. You go left, I go right, we see which one has the marshmallow. The guy could have switched, afterall."

They both reached to his left arm, before Sadie's arms flinched back.

"No, idiot, _your_ left, not his."

Before she could really correct herself, Homer bended foreward and shot a stream of flames out of his mouth. This started out as a highly consentrated beam of yellow, before expanding at the trail's end to a shapeless fire twice his size that illuminated the sky and forced Eva and Sadie to jump backwards. As the golden challenge stood up, Eva turned to her former teammate.

"Sadie, remember the three strikes system?"

She nodded, and Homer looked back and forth between the contestants.

"Because we would have won if you didn't get mixed up, that's one. And you'll need to do something becides elimiate Katie to get this one removed."

Sadie got up, just as Homer made the final decision on the other camper. He withdrew his cape again, jumping closer to Eva whlie the competetor in question held up her fists in defense. With one more toss-

Eva found herself getting shoved a few feet to the left. Looking back, she saw the sheet landing on Sadie, quickly wrapping itself around her like a shiny body bag. Homer grabbed this sheet and flew off.

"Alright then." She said, "Strike erased. Again."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Fire breath? _Seriously?_ That... that's cheating! I don't know how or why, but it feels like cheating! I mean, he uses these armbands to take away class-powers, and he's... invoking them or something- no. *Deep breaths.* Eva, you're sounding like Courtney. Don't turn into the enemy.  
>Eva: ...I think it's a year too late to say that.<p>

* * *

><p>She stopped casting a look into the distant maze when she heard footsteps. Those belonging to Izzy and Beth.<p>

"Oh." The first said. "It's you."

Beth elaborated. "We saw that same gold light that Homer made after he got Courtney, and... Izzy thought it was you."

"Nope." She smirked, crossing her arms. "And I just want to let you know that he _was_ going after me, but Sadie sacrificed herself. An ally who would give herself for another ally. 'Smore than what I can say about you and Courtney."

"Hey, that was uncalled for!"

"Please, it's the truth. Back when you were controlling the Killer Jackrabbits you couldn't even make one concrete decision except for Gwen. It started a real feud between you guys."

"Hrmp! And to think I was about to ask you to team up with us!"

"Yeah!" Izzy added, before blinking several times and turning to Beth. "Wait what, _what?_"

The sweetest of the group shrugged. "Well, we're kind of desperate. I mean, we lost Courtney. And she's stronger than both of us combined."

"Courtney isn't stronger than one of us! If that one of us is me! And I'd rather team up with a _rat_ than with Eva!"

"Huh, that's funny."

"What!?"

"Courtney said something like that about you. Last night she said she would rather team up with a cockroach than see Lindsay try to make an alliance with you."

"But Eva would just use us! She used Sadie, and used Sadie to use Bridgette, and I'm sure she has something to do with using Katie and discarding her right before making her lose the game!"

"And you didn't just use Lindsay? I mean, she _was_ voted off right after she decided to make an alliance with you."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Aaaaaand... _bingo._ I knew it would happen. Going after Lindsay was a risk, but it payed off. Welp, my work there is done, I have a Simpson to catch.

* * *

><p>As Beth and Izzy's conversation continued, Eva laughed when she saw a familiar trail of gold dart to its next destination. The cliff's top.<p>

"That's because she crossed me after we teamed up!"

"She only crossed you because she knew Courtney hates you! And thought it would be a good idea! Becides, you crossed us first when you went after Sadie when you could have had Eva gone then and there!"

By this point, Eva was casually walking towards the massive rise.

"If Courtney hates me so much, then why did she say yes when I asked if I could join you guys?"

"Because she just wanted to use you for strength!"

Beth reeled back right after saying that.

"...Really?" Izzy asked.

"Um, no, that was actually more of what I was thinking at the time. I can't speak for Courtney, but-"

"Actually, you just did. Because you know what? Your entire friend group is all the same. All three of you closed your circle after it was finished, and now you just want to use everybody else as stepping stones for winning the game. Like Eva. And by 'Like Eva', I'm not saying that Eva is one of those you wanna use - but at the same time this is kinda true since you just said you wanted to team with Eva - I mean what you _do_ is like what she does."

Beth gasped. "You take that back!"

"Or else what? You can't kick me off the alliance, because I quit." Izzy turned her back to her. "From this moment on, I'm doing the game solo. Everyone else is either Eva, Courtney, or one of their allies. It makes sense anyway, this is every camper for herself, and forming teams is kind of stupid in a challenge where there's only five of us and that number can only go _down._ Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get my hands on a pink treat."

Both of them started looking around the grounds.

"Um..." Izzy said, "Where did he go?"

"I wouldn't tell you! Not because the alliance is off, but... because I don't know either."

Luckily for them, they overheard Eva breaking out into laughter. One look in the direction later and they could clearly see a shady figure running to the highest point in the camp.

* * *

><p><strong>(Jail Cell)<strong>

The occupants, their numbers now increased to three, all stared at the ground. For a few seconds, no more than a sigh was made from any of them. And after those seconds, Sadie formed a fist and stuck it out in front of her.

"No!" She cried, reaching down and ripping out two blades of grass. And after that, she plucked out a strand of hair (with a flinch) and placed it in her mouth. "I won't stand for this!"

Naturally, both Courtney and Geoff looked confused out of their minds.

"What are you doing?" The former asked.

"Making a lock pick!" She cried, "Izzy told me this earlier. There's this thing where you can make your hair stiff from spit, wrap grass around it, and then the grass would... well, I think it's supposed to unravel in a way that gets rid of any lock?"

"Why?"

"Because- this game! This Homer! This Eva! I don't know about you, but today I feel like I'm being pushed around too much! I found freedom when I started flying, I don't want it taken away!"

"I think that might be against the rules, dudette." Geoff broke in.

"So? Didn't Ezekiel tell you to be more bold? What's more bold than staging a rebellion to his stupid challenges?"

Geoff put a hand on his chin, allthewhile Courtney shook her head.

"Well, if I know what I'm doing..." Sadie continued, "This should take about an hour before the hair becomes a solid... thing."

"Excuse me," Courtney said, "But this could get you kicked off of the game- wait a minute." She pointed to Sadie. "You work under Eva." Then Geoff. "And I don't care about you. I have nothing to worry about. Even when the hour comes."

She spotted a bench and lied down on it, which caused Geoff and Sadie to look at eachother.

"Hey," The latter said, "Maybe stopping us will boost your credit with Ezekiel."

Courtney yawned, waving a hand at them. "I'll wait until you already open the door. I need this nap. I got up bright and early today so that I thought I could scout the morning for clues to today's challenge, or just get a head start, but since it's our first night challenge all this did was give me less sleep. I blame that on why I lost to my boyfriend."

They grinned at eachother.

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Cliff Trail)<strong>

"If you're still talking to me, Izzy..." Beth said between pants, "I want to ask something: Why are we making this a race?"

Both of them were well over halfway to the top of the cliff, pacing themselves up and through the array of rocks, irregular ground, and plants that stuck up from the slant.

"I mean," She continued, "What are the chances Eva _didn't_ win already?"

Izzy laughed. "That's the difference between me and you. I don't give up. That easily. Who knows, Eva could be weakening Homer, and if I sneak up on him well enough, I might win!"

"Well... that did give me an idea, but it gave me another one. We've been running up this cliff for almost an hour." She looked at her watch. "Yep. Fifty-six minutes. What if Homer catches Eva and dissapears to another part of the camp?"

An even harder laugh, bordering on hysterics. "I can dive off the cliff and into the lake. It's my personal shortcut. No idea what you'd do."

She looked down at the same cliff she was currently trying to speed over. "Hm. You're right. Jumping off of cliffs was never my strong point."

Before they knew it, the slope ended, and both of them could get a clear-cut view of Eva trying to take down the Simpson. By this point, seeing Eva reflect fire with fists, dodge-roll his attack-rolls, and even jump to strike him down when he starts flapping his wings and hover in the air-

"Wait, he can fly? Like a bird?" Beth asked.

"The only thing I care about that's up his sleeve is that marshmallow. He can pull all the tricks he wants."

The pair reached the top right after, once again reuniting the last three standing contestants left in the challenge. While Beth froze in her tracks, Izzy gave a battle cry and ran to his backside. Luckily, Eva was keeping Homer busy and, as a bonus, faced to the edge of the cliff, so that even with Izzy's audio cue, he could only make a mild turn around before finding himself tackled and forced to the edge of the cliff.

However, thanks to the weight of the costume compared to the weight of the Izzy, they didn't quite fall off yet. Eva stared at the scene in displeasement, watching as Homer desperately tried to figure out how to pull off a girl seated on his head that appeared to be clawing at the eyes of the suit. Before he could come up with his solution, the pair was shoulder-rammed off the cliff by Eva.

"NOOO!" Izzy cried. "So close! I was about to take off his mask! That might have done something! Curse you, Evaaaaaa! And double curse you, Courtney's _boyfrieeeeeeeeend_!"

"What was that?" Eva asked to the sole remaining person at the peak. Coming to the realization that it was down to two made Beth shiver up.

"It's something Courtney thought. Just a theory!"

"Hrm. Let me guess, you're too scared to jump off yourself, right?"

She looked at the floor. "Yes. Courtney, Lindsay and I shared a few secrets after Katie was voted off. And the fact that none of us would jump off this cliff is one-"

She saw that Eva was already gone. Enraged, she ran to the edge and called down.

"Hey Eva! Courtney also told us a lot about her _boyfriend_! So I at least know a few extra tips when it comes to beating him!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Jail Cell)<strong>

"Is it done now?" Geoff asked.

"Hmm... nope." Was Sadie's reply. "Just a _few_ more minutes..."

"Hey, Courtney is like, asleep right now. Why do we even need to wake her up?"

"Because this is a revolution! We might be able to make her change sides mid-way, and every last person we have with us counts! Especially since we're so close to the end and _so_ many are gone by now!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Sheer Cliff Side)<strong>

On their way down, Izzy continued assaulting Homer with a barrage of kicks directed to him. Strike after strike was almost blocked and countered by his own punches, until at one point Izzy got the idea to grab an arm. This... had some result to it. She continued giving him a flurry of kicks after this, this time with a **far** greater success rate, with his gut being jabbed at while he himself could only look back in what might be... worry? Shock? It was impossible to tell with that expressionless mask. But one thing she was able to tell was that the arm she grabbed started loosening itself, popping not more than a few centimeters from its main body. It was more than enough to catch both of their attentions, as soon Homer used his fixed arm to pop that one back into place, and gut-kicked her to the lake below.

Which Homer himself fell into right after. Izzy swam herself back to the surface just in time to dodge another fire blast, which was instantly turned into a stream of heated bubbles by the lake's cool waters. This surface-breaking was before Homer's - odd since his last kick meant that she might have been plunged deeper in the water - whereafter his head came out he released that familiar screech.

"Hey! This is kind of like that time back in the camping challenge!" Izzy cried. "Where I... hrm..."

Her eyes darted around the lake. As usual, there was not much to look at. The occasional plant stemming out in the distance, crude shadows of fish that were currently swimming as far from the yellow beast as they could, something creating a large splash near to them, a specificly crafted piece of wood-

"Bingo." She said, grabbing her old flute. Even under the body costume, she could tell that whoever was playing Homer cringed. His hand-movements helped. Izzy made sure that all of her teeth were showing seconds before she would then bring the instrument to her face and use every force of wind she had in her.

The resulting blast of untuned music that seemed to shift between several notes - all high-pitched - echoed through almost all of Zekitunakwa. Courtney sprung from the cell's bed, cast a look at Geoff and Sadie, then shrunk back with her face turned away from the door. Beth took a number of steps backward, worried that the sonic would break the edge of the cliff off. And in the Mess Hall, Ezekiel shoved himself foreward and nearly ruined the pile of notes and books he had set up, while Justin rolled out of and fell from the hammock he had set up hanging from the ceiling.

"Wow." The last one said. "And how long has it been since the challenge started?"

Ezekiel checked his watch. "An hour and ten minutes."

"Huh. I thought the campers would either all lose or somebody would win."

The lake, being where the source was located, had the biggest effect. Homer groaned and paddled himself backward, which just prompted Izzy to swim ahead again and ready for another blow on that shoddly made flute-

A pale, brawny hand stuck up from the water, snatched the bad music maker, and snapped it in half. Another emerge later, and Izzy was met with Eva grinning right in front of her face.

"Why did you do that?" Izzy furiously splashed around. "This was our- my chance! I found something that got this weirdo! Now there's nobody who can win this challenge, do you know what happens when we have a challenge that everybody fails?"

"No, 'cuz I'm gonna be the victor."

"Really? You don't seem to realize Homer's right behind you."

"No, you can't figure out how bad it is when he's in front of you."

Eva side-stroked out of the way, just in time for Izzy to witness Homer casting another cape in her direction. Thanks to being almost completely submerged, it took him a little extra effort to pad down the sides of the capture cape and squeeze out the lake water after he lifted it up. But he still got that done, still jumped on the cliff side, and changed up his formula by looking at Eva.

"I am done playing hide and seek." He finally, _finally_ spoke, with the similar corruption in his voice that was present in his screams. "When I drop this one off, I'm going straight to you."

He lept from the side, giving Eva a better look at his hyper flight. Somehow, he was coated in a comet of yellow light, and flew around with his hands down by his sides (one of which holding on to the cape) and his feet together. The last lake-dwelling contestant smirked.

"It's about time!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Jail Cell)<strong>

"Okay!" Sadie whispered in a manner that was trying to hide the fact that she clearly didn't want to whisper. "It's done! Now we-"

Both she and Geoff briefly froze as Homer opened the glass door, held up the cape, let Izzy fall out of it, and re-closed it. He took off in his signature lightning flight after that.

"Hey guys." Izzy said, sheepishly.

Sadie finally plucked a pair of grass blades with one hand and took the hair out of her mouth with the other. She tied the plant strips around the hair, making quick motions that ended with both of them spiraling around it and getting Izzy's attention.

"Hey. I taught you that! Are you trying to break out of here?"

Sadie stuck her new contraption in the lock just as Courtney began opening her eyes. "Yes! We're getting revenge on Ezekiel for everything he did!"

"If you don't like the way the game works, then handle it in a more _mature_ way. Like... quitting?"

The lock clicked.

"Call it immature, but I don't give up, and I don't give in!"

"Well you gave in to Eva."

The magenta-wearing camper instantly slid open their escape from the cell, pointing in a random direction.

"There Geoff! Freedom is that way!"

With that cry, both of them took off into a run. Courtney started going after them, then looked at Izzy. Because the redhead was, oddly enough, the only one in that scene who was stationary.

"You're not going to help me?"

"I think staying put is the better option here. You know, handling this game like an adult. Even if that sentence makes no sense."

"But you'll be bringing them to justice!"

She shrugged. "Well, can't argue with justice now that I'm getting into it. Let's go bust some Total Zeksmit Delinquents!"

"Problem. Because I had to _tell you to help me_, we lost track of them. Even if we get out of this maze-"

"I have a map in my mind!"

"-We still don't know where they possibly want to go. I mean, to Ezekiel, that makes sense, but we don't know where he is right now. And by the time we do, who says they didn't find him?"

"Hm."

"And Geoff has his number. I know this because when I got here he wouldn't stop talking about it. Who says he can't call him, make an excuse to ask him where he is, and use that to track him down?"

Just then, luck seemed to hit all four of them. Courtney and Izzy, because they heard Sadie shouting "...Or is freedom this way!?" and running down the other side, and Sadie and Geoff, as Geoff tossed in a "Thanks for the idea, Court!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Mess Hall)<strong>

"Fwew!" Ezekiel said, shutting another book closed. "Okay! Assignment eight's done eh! So I'm... three ahead, that gives me a lot more time to work on that renual thing!"

This comment got the still-resting Justin up with even more surprise than the flute play. "Wait. Renual? Are you talking about this show?"

"No. But hook me up with Felicia, Karen, Hale, Will, and Seth. And Zelda. This is a _huge_ event for me."

"Hopefully it's for you alone. Because after episode twelve airs, I want nothing to do with your TV life anymore."

Both of them noticed a ring tone, Ezekiel being quick to answer.

"Hello? Aw sweet, you're calling pizza! Um... yeah sure, I don't think I'm gonna move from here. Just tell them I'm at the building labeled 'MESS HALL'. In case you can't hear me or they can't hear you, spell it out M. E. S- ya' already got it? Cool."

On the other line, working their way through the maze, Courtney eventually caught up with Geoff and snatched the phone from his hands.

"Ezekiel!" She cried, "Is that you?"

"Courtney? Is this some surprise lawsuit on the game that I didn't know about?"

"No, but if I didn't steal the line, you would have had a surprise. Geoff and Sadie are trying to stage a... rebellion thing! They're running over to you right now!"

Ezekiel's eyes popped. "Hoo boy. Well I can't let Justin know about this, he'll take Geoff's side. But I know someone whose always got my back. And I'm sure he always has your back if you know what I-"

"Yes, 'Homer' is my boyfriend. I figured that out the moment I saw how he fights."

"I'm gonna disconnect with this line and open up a new one to contact him. Just stay... doing whatever you are."

As he moved the phone away from him and began dialing, Justin finally slipped out from his areal bed and took a few paces to his host.

"You can't let me know about _what?_"

He looked down and sighed. "The surprise 'TZ going away' party I wanted to give to you, since you seem to want to leave when this season is over and after I'm done renuing it. I wanted to invite all my friends so I can introduce them to you. So, you got me."

"Dang. I think that's a lie, but I can't think about anything now except for that you came up with an idea like that."

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Lake)<strong>

The goldenrod fireball shot around the lake, back and forth for any signs of the muscle-filled contestant who gave him such hardships. She wasn't in the spot they dropped to the water. Didn't appear to be submerged either. Swimming all the way to the shore in that amount of time seems like a bit of a stretch, especially since Eva isn't exactly the running _away_ type. But...

The first sign of her was a battle cry followed by something heavy landing on his back mid-flight. He turned the neck of his costume around. Yep. Eva had lept off from the cliff's side, and was clutching onto his back. And wailing on his head, too. Homer responded to all of this by flying above the dry land once again, getting a hold of Eva's head with his feet, and spin-diving both of them to the ground.

It was then that a ringtone played somewhere near his head. Casually, he put a hand in his right ear, playing a message from Ezekiel.

"GEOFF'S OUT TO GET ME! Oh yeah, and Sadie too. Please come to the Mess Hall and... you know, act like a guard and stuff."

He was about to bounce off of the ground, before getting a heafty weight on his feet. Looking down, he naturally saw Eva succeeding at keeping him pinned.

"Oh no you don't. I travelled from Europe to North America to get on your game. I'm not gonna let you go just so you can deal with your little _show staff issues_. My eye's on the challenges first."

Several-but-not-many feet above, Beth gripped on to a rock for dear life as it slid down the cliff's side.

"W-w-w-woah..." She said, looking down and to the left at a splotch of gold doing something below. And yep, it unleashed a breath of fire. Either that was Homer or some weird creatures have gotten into the camp. "Th-th-the Screaming Buffalo made surfing on rocks look so e-e-easy..."

Finding one point to be her stop, Beth leaned over and changed course slightly to her side. Even as the cliff's space began ending and thus led to a number of sharp rocks erratically leading the rest of the way down, she continued. Even if this meant soring off the side, which was part of her intention, thanks to some calculations that would ensure she would hit her target.

Just as she planned, the earth-chunk hit the television star-dresser hard enough in the face to not only make lasting wrinkles on the mask, but rotated it ninety degrees. Eva looked on with impressed eyes, even when Beth's ride tilted foreward to the point where she fell off of it, and it fell off of the challenge.

"You did pretty good for... well, you." The fit-geek said, arms crossed with pride. "Courtney, Sadie, and even Izzy couldn't damage him like that."

Instead of replying, Beth gave another strike to the head before Homer could even make any sort of reaction to what was happening. Now Eva started re-entering her guard. Once he finally reacted, it was one of desperation. He stuck both of his hands on his head, trying to set it aright but only managing to make a few twisting jerks instead. To be fair, he was not given that much time to try perfecting his head, as right after that the seagreen-dressed nice girl gave a good grip on his right arm, yanking the whole thing off. What was underneath that was either a very thick black arm holder, or a very thick arm in black. But more importantly, the pink marshmallow, sealed safetly in a small plastic bag, which fell away from his person and dropped on the floor.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Eva: Okay, I think my plan to get Izzy and Courtney to turn against eachother backfired. Now Beth's after my tail, or the rivalry made Beth more aggressive, or... something! I need to come up with a way outta this...

* * *

><p>Both contestants dashed to it immediately, and soon all four of their combined arms were at war with deflecting the enemy's away. Not just that, but both of them kicked at the bag in an attempt to drag it towards their own side. They were so caught up with trying to go after the bag as well as eachother that neither of them noticed Homer slowly rising up, appearing to have given up on fixing his head.<p>

That is, until he shot out more fire. For some reason, this unstuck a bit of his head, although instead of locking back in place, it spun circle after circle. The blast that came from this ended up spiraling all around, and making Beth and Eva both jump back in how sudden it was. He took advantage of this to make a grab for it with his only Homery-hand left, only giving the remaining campers enough time to jump on his feet before his next action.

After a very fast head re-aligning, he took off in another jump, being quick to fling the bagged marshmallow into his mouth even before the competetors started climbing him. They all zipped around the open parts of Zekitunakwa, appearing at first to be going aimlessly, until his riders noticed that they were all closing in on the Mess Hall. In due time, Eva and Beth were both at his torso (the former at the front and the latter at the back), clawing at the mask. Beth, still keeping on to the removed arm, clawed with only one hand.

"Alright," Eva said, "That's it. It's time for both of you to think fast!"

Finding that Beth was still holding the arm she took off, Eva grabbed onto that and swung it at its previous stealer. In the general direction of their destination. This did manage to fling off the final Eva-opposer left in the challenge, landing her right on the same spot in the roof that Homer would head-dive seconds later.

* * *

><p><strong>(Mess Hall)<strong>

Ezekiel flinched at the sight, and Justin looked at it in curiosity.

A chunk of their roof seemed to explode, with Beth being the first thing that came through. While she would then slide along the floor and bump her head on what was normally the serving area, Homer himself fell in next at a similar angle, Eva clutching onto his stomach. Which complicated things since that's where he first landed. Complicated enough to get Eva to do a few kicks at him away.

"Aw come on, really?" Ezekiel said, "Seriously? I thought this was gonna be a fast challenge, man."

Geoff kicked the door open, revealing Sadie to be by his side.

"Hold on!" He yelled with a grin, "Ezekiel, it's finally payback time!"

"Yeah!" Sadie shouted in agreement, as they both started running towards him. He only laughed.

"Nice try, but Justin and Homer-"

He found the former holding onto his shoulders, while the latter seemed to still be giving a lot of effort to Eva (Beth, on the other hand, could only crawl her way towards the fight).

"You knew too?" The host asked.

"Well, _duh._" Justin rolled his eyes. "The phones can instantly contact any one member of the show staff to any other member."

"I WAS SAVING THIS FOR THE FINALE OF THE AFTERMATH, BUT IT WAS TOO GLOOMY TO TRY OUT A GAME OF TUG-O-WAR!" Geoff continued his cries, taking a long amount of rope from under his hat. "BUT IT'S NOT TOO GLOOMY TO TIE YOU UP!"

Courtney and Izzy appeared at the door next, both of them panting.

"We're not on their side!" Izzy blared in, "We were trying to stop them, but they were... faster than we thought."

Geoff stopped in his tracks after catching sight of Eva and Homer's battle, and Sadie stopped shortly after seeing Geoff stop. The dark blue-clad camper was now slapping him with the arm-piece that had been pulled off prior. Three slaps, she noticed how far back he was leaning his head, and she ducked under between his legs.

Then he noticed that Beth recovered pretty quickly. She herself stood up, took off in a run, and he answered to this with sucking in more air, until-

Eva pulled off the mask.

What was underneath was a redhead embarassingly trying to still make a massive intake. But instead of unleashing an inferno, he just coughed out a heavty amount of dust. More importantly (to Eva), the marshmallow fell out as well, the bag of which was taken from the unmasker. Who would rip it open and lay a single finger on the fluffy prize within.

"Harold! But I won't hug you until after you get out of that stupid costume." Courtney cried with a smile, running up to him. This was met with some reactions from the other contestants:

"Harold?" Was Izzy's.

"_That's_ Harold?" Beth shot her upper half foreward in disbelief.

"Who?" Sadie asked.

"Ew." Was all Eva said. The newly revealed show staff member exclaimed:

"Wow! That was mad stuffy in there!"

Finally, Ezekiel laughed as Justin let go of him and suspiciously backed away. "Aw yeah, I bet you didn't-"

"_REVENGE!_" He was cut off by Geoff, who ran circles around him, wrapping the rope as he went along. Once the ex-interviewer was finished, he held up both of his fists in pride, gave a bit of a howl, and kicked him in a shin. "_That's_ for locking me and the campers up!"

All he did was grin while this was going on, even after Sadie lifted him up.

"Really?" Geoff asked, cooling himself down. "You're taking this really well."

"I know. I am just _full_ of surprises, aren't I?" He asked. "Courtney, I didn't think even _you_ could guess that Homer was really-"

"It was obvious." She said, now standing right by him and watching as he struggled to remove the Simpson costume. Followed by the giant, black fat suit underneath. "Right there in the fighting style. The only thing that didn't make any sense was why he didn't give in when we offered to flash him. He can be a bit of a pig like that."

"You did what?" Eva asked, sounding both offended and humored. The latter emotion seemed to dominate the former, as she soon broke out giggling, going "Oh, that's _pathetic!_"

"Yeah, about that." Harold said, finally starting on the zipper of the suit. "Ezekiel gave me a deal. He said that if I could capture all of you, I get to be a contestant!"

Sadie stopped carrying Ezekiel off once he began to speak. "Yeah, the contract allowed for thirteen episodes, and right now we were kinda stuck with twelve even with Aftermaths. So I thought he could be a way to thicken this out just a little bit if he gets in. If not, I already having something cooler planned, but it would take up a lot more of my budget, so I was hoping he would win. That's why he's so overpowered."

"He said that the new challenge he'll add, right after this one, will be about mud wrestling and we have to pull off the other camper's tops!" He looked towards his girlfriend. "But I promise I will only do that to you. Still, ten boobs beats six."

"It would be eight since we have an elimination today," Courtney corrected, "Or it still would have been six, since there is no way you can take anything off of _me._ You should have taken our offer. Especially since that would mean I _won't_ be going home today, and now there's a real chance that I-"

"Actually, the elimination is kind of obvious." Izzy said. "I mean, I hate the two of you more than life itself, but I think Beth and you both have the same target as me. Eva. And while Eva may be invincible, her _right hand woman..._"

Sadie started looking around the room, for any kind of bail possible. "Wait! Wait! I'm about to throw Ezekiel in the lake! Don't you want to see that? Does that make me a hero?"

"You won't be throwing anyone in any lake." Izzy said. She held a hand out, as though she was expecting Sadie to hand the host over to her. "Drop him."

"Relax, Izzy." He said, "She outran you and Courtney over here, and did it in such a cool way, too! What she and Geoff are doing is a form of catharsis. Heck, Courtney has her boyfriend... _at the moment._ Let her have her little moment of fun too. It's the final five, after all!"

"But- Bridgette wouldn't..."

"Bridgette Schmidgette. I'm only encouraging this, I'm not actually _doing_ it. Different things. And even if they weren't, tossing yourself into the lake is the same thing as diving into that, and what, do you think she doesn't want people to dive? I mean, she's a surfer and everything!"

Izzy stared at the floor in thought before coming up with a reply. Starting with a shrug,

"Ah well. It goes to show that acting like that will still get you or somebody close to you voted off. The you being... well, you, since you're a garunteed goner! And the somebody close to you being... hopefully _you._" She glared over at Eva, who only laughed.

"Not if you keep not trying at these challenges! Seriously, I won two in a row! Ezekiel should just hand me the fifty grand, I'm invincible!"

* * *

><p><strong>(Zekitunakwa Lake)<strong>

"One... two... THREE!"

Those were the last words Ezekiel heard, before the sound of plunging into the water below.

It took a bit of struggling to get himself freed from the rope, but once it started unraveling, he could work out the rest. He emerged a little later, brushing off the spare droplets and laughing at the throwers. The last section making Geoff and Sadie, still the only people responsible, cringe.

"Nice one! Seriously, nice one!"

Geoff and Sadie looked at eachother, before the first uncertainly started. "Uh... I thought this would feel great. It turns out... I don't really feel much of anything doing this."

"Yeah." Sadie said.

"And uh... well, at least you're taking Eva's crap better than Katie did!"

She gasped. "Katie! I forgot about her! That's right, you were with her and asked her questions and stuff! How did it go?"

"Heh heh heh," Geoff began laughing, "Actually, it was terrible. Everyone was against eachother, Katie broke down and cried a lot, Gwen and Leshawna were the only former campers who kept themselves level-headed against Heather... she asked all of these weird questions. A lot of them were what-ifs. You know, I'm surprised you seem to be keeping more of a cool. I mean, yeah, you didn't have it as bad as Katie did, and Katie didn't, like, betray you or anything- I mean..."

"No, it's fine." She looked towards Eva and, for once, seemed to smile in her direction. "I think I have everything under control."

"You sure? 'Cuz back there, Izzy said you're outta here. Unless Eva saw you as valuable enough to give you her immunity - you can do that in this game, by the way - but that would mean that everyone'll just gang up on her."

Sadie nodded. "I'll be fine."

She walked off towards the elimination area, with Geoff sighing and doing the same. After making sure they were gone, Eva flew up to the shore, just as Ezekiel got up to his feet.

"Yeah, I'd like to make a _complaint._" She said.

"Oh boy."

"Harold was _clearly_ using heat-class powers there. I thought that these arm bands were supposed to neutralize class abilities!"

"Uh, it's considered fire-class, and no. I didn't take records on him to see what class he was - same reason why I didn't ask you. So I don't know if he is. That fire-breath was part of a machine. And I spent a lot of time working on it, too, so I didn't want it to go to waste just because someone can power their way out of a situation. Becides, we should all be lucky for those limiters. If it wasn't for them during the War, we'd all kill eachother by screwing up the earth. All classes would. Wind, fire, earth, lightning, tree, beast, water, poison, vampire. Heck, maybe even us neutrals. You do know my dad and all."

"I don't. And most of those names are outdated. But, I can tell that talking to you about this is a dead-end. Becides, I'm a neutral and I made it this far. Can't complain."

She walked off. And with Justin out of sight, Ezekiel walked up to two of the last four people around.

"Izzy! Harold! Now that you're together and not trying to beat eachother, I have to ask you something: Are you two related?"

Her reply was a "Maybe," and his was a "Biologically, we all are to some extent."

"...I'll take that as a no, and see you guys at the ceremony. Remember, one hour!"

As Ezekiel, too, ran off towards the roaring bondfire, Harold and Izzy could only stare in his direction as Beth walked closer to them.

"Where's Courtney?" Harold himself asked. "Unless the chance she loses comes true, we only have an hour together. Then... it's not until the end of the game or when she gets voted off that we'll see eachother again. Which isn't that far away, but still. It _feels_ far when you're me."

"Ew." Izzy took a step away with each foot. "No way you're related to me. Even 'biologically.' Anyway, I think I heard her in the confessional. Don't know how long she's in there. Probably saying something long."

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Courtney: ...I _could_ talk Beth and Sadie into getting rid of Izzy. I know Beth will listen to me, being my friend, and Sadie was always Beth's friend, and she might be desperate to get out of losing. But that's a lot like what Eva did to get rid of Bridgette, right? Wait, would that make me another Eva? *Leans against the wall.*  
>*Fast-foreward icon appears in the corner, but she remains leaning.*<p>

Eva: Well. I need to step up my plan. Izzy still finds me top priority. If Sadie's the one to get the pool of votes after this, I'll have to step things up a notch to make _sure_ everyone left is after eachother's throats over mine.

* * *

><p>Courtney finally ran out, bolting over to the others.<p>

"Beth! I want to tell you something!"

She halted in her tracks, for a reason implied by the next thing she said. "Oh, Izzy. It's you. I thought you were Justin from a distance."

"Heeeey..." Beth broke in, trying to wrap an arm around Izzy. Who only took another pair of steps outward, now bringing herself at a point where she risked soaking her feet in the lake. "I have this cool idea! I saw you two working together to stop Sadie and Geoff from kidnapping Ezekiel, does that mean that our alliance with Izzy is still on?"

"No. And after me, you, and- Izzy, all vote for Sadie, then that's it. I'm even considering voting for Sadie to be a freebie. Izzy, all my problems with you still stand."

"And how many is that?" Both of them asked. Courtney crossed her arms.

"I have a list."

Harold cleared his throat. "If it makes you feel any better, she has a list of my problems too. But knowing her, I think your's might be longer."

"Oh, uh..." the CIT blushed, "Funny thing Harold... it... isn't."

All the eyes were on her after that. The crickets felt more like a reaction to that comment than nature giving sound to the wilderness. Beth frowned at her, and even started taking a step back herself. Harold's eyes moved away first, locking themselves on the ground, something Courtney mirrored.

Izzy was the first to break the silence, which felt like the only constant by now. "Pfft, it doesn't matter what you think of me, the alliance is still off. Later."

She too made her way back to the campsite.

"B-but only because you don't know Izzy as much as me, right?" Harold asked. "Right?"

"I'm sorry Harold. I know it's been weeks since we've seen eachother, and it feels nice having you in this horrible game, but this really isn't a good time to talk. Maybe by the ceremony, I'll have something thought up to say."

"You don't need to 'think up' something to say. Just speak from your heart. I do that all the time! To you, I mean."

She trudged her way back to camp. The final lakeside contestant put an arm on his shoulder.

"Hey, if you're having relationship issues, I can try to fix that!"

"In an hour?"

"Sadly, no. But I've been trying to work on Izzy and Courtney re-making an anti-Eva alliance. Don't really know how that's going.

* * *

><p><strong>(Elimination Ceremony)<strong>

"So, here we are. Four show staff, a-here." Ezekiel guestured his arms around the stage. "And five campers still in the game, a-there. We're not even now, but we will be pretty soon." Then around the bleachers. Both Geoff and Harold lit up.

"So... does this mean I still have a job on the show?" The former asked. "I mean, I don't really like it here, but now that I took my revenge on you, I couldn't help but think that this show is cool! Plus, things went south so fast at the Aftermath studio and I _really_ need a second chance to mend some fences and... well, you said it yourself, until the show is over the only people allowed here are the ones working for or on the show in some way.

"And I _really_ want to see more of Courtney! Knowing this game, I could even see her naked on _purpose!_ It feels so different when it's done on purpose!" Harold added, which made Ezekiel laugh and rest his head on his palm.

"Oh, this is ironic. You see, I kind of have jobs planned for you two that I _don't_ think you'd want." He pointed at Harold. "I'd like a second Aftermath host, since I agree, Heather screwed everything up and it'd be cool to see someone try to fix what Leshawna couldn't. Which means you won't be seeing Courtney until after she's gone."

Harold nodded in authority while Ezekiel pointed at Geoff next. "And as for you... Well, most of our available jobs take place right here. Then again, I think your little mutiny was kind of a big humiliation. Even if it made us even for me tampering with your car, and the kidnapping, and the... huh, that's actually a pretty lame comeback for all of that. But the point is, you kinda humiliated my image on TV, so I think you should get a job that's humiliating your image. Justin! What's the most humiliating job here you can think of?"

He rolled his eyes. "Being your assistant."

"Huh? I don't really agree, but I don't have any better ideas. And the thought of having two personal assistants sounds cool sooooo... congrats Geoff, you are now a second co-host! Don't let the 'second' fool you, because that means you have the exact amount of power Justin has!"

Justin was so shocked at this that he almost dropped the plate.

* * *

><p><strong>(Confessional)<strong>

Justin: I should have said "Hosting this game" instead! *Puts finger on chin.* Hm... but being another host is just the same as being a co-host. So I still would have had to deal with this idiot. Sometimes, my own smart thinking can backfire on me. But seriously, Geoff. I would have gladly help them throw Ezekiel into that lake, but he's just so... ick, that I can't bear being with him! He's just so... _careless_ about his looks! And stupid, that's important too! I can easily see him becoming a second me, unlike Ezekiel, and the fact that he isn't but Ezekiel now wants him to be is _infuriating!_

Geoff: ...WHAT did he say about tampering with my car?

* * *

><p>"Can we stop your promotions and get back to the game already?" Eva waved her voter around. "The only one of you guys anyone would care about at all is Justin, anyway, and nothing's changing with him! Hopefully..."<p>

Said co-host lighted up at that, and waved at her with the free hand. All the while, the podium beeped and another paper came out.

"Okay, our pink marshmallow goes to Eva," Ezekiel read out. "Yeah yeah yeah, not surprising, I wish it was someone else.

"The first of our boring white marshmallows is directed at Beth. Aaaaand the second, Courtney. All of you have no votes, and Courtney, that's a personal record I think. As for the third..."

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Izzy, who was wrong about her paranoia, and only has two votes. You're safe. Sadie, any last words?"

Standing up straight and taking in a few deep breaths, she began. "I learned a lot from everybody here! Courtney taught me about staying true to your friends and, if you really like them, redeem yourself! But Izzy taught me about how much you should have fun with everyone and-"

"Uh ta ta ta ta ta ta!" Izzy cut in. "I don't believe in that anymore! Now I'm a not more mature!"

"Well, _I_ do, and that's the important part." Sadie turned to Eva, despite adressing someone else. "And Geoff, you taught me that if you're working under someone you don't like, it's best to stand up to them and find the best way out. And thanks to Izzy and Courtney, I know for sure that I was working for someone I don't like."

"Really?" Eva raised an eyebrow, "You're standing up to me now? You just got voted off. There's nothing you can-"

She was cut off by a sharp burst of pain to her face. She must have felt that before seeing Sadie's fist actually connect to her, square in the nose and causing her to cringe. The punch was so powerful that it broke her balance, making her tip and fall over the back of the bleachers.

Everyone heard a creak. The steps vibrated as Eva climbed back up from the back, and everyone was looking at Sadie's offending hand. Even Sadie herself, staring at he fist as if she had no eyelids.

Finally, Eva made it back to the top step. Hands and head barely holding over the edge, face having dust on it, nose starting to bleed - she looked at Sadie with a smirk.

"It's about time you grew up and learned how to be scary. That's what _I_ taught you."

"What? No! You didn't teach me anything you jerk! Why are you smiling? I punched you!"

"Okay, that's enough." Courtney broke in, restraining her from any foreseeable second attack and trying to pull her off of the steps. Soon, Beth tried to add herself in, the pair of campers grabbing Sadie by the shoulders and leading her off while she cast a glare over at Eva. By the time Izzy stood up and tried to volunteer, Sadie dismissed all three of them.

"I can walk to the Car of Failure myself!"

She seemed to slip from their grasp after that, leaving them all to stare at the latest contestant to enter the black car. Ezekiel himself followed, once again getting into the driver's seat while the original driving intern made her way to Harold.

"Harold. It's time." She walked right back to the car after that, yet kept her eyes focused on him with a somewhat worried look.

"I know it is. But I want to do one last thing."

He wrapped his arms around Courtney, and then tried to pull her in for a final hug. (But if anything, he pulled himself closer to her.) The CIT looked on to Izzy, Beth, and even a still-rising Eva looking for thoughts, and after being met by two shrugs and a torso slumping over the highest seat, she returned the hug.

"Remember, you should probably make some friends over there."

"I know."

"No, I'm serious. I know all of the eliminated campers. Down to having a perfect memory of what order they lost! They will maul you if you don't get on their good side."

"Noted. Now, if you can keep your hands off of me, I have a promise to fulfill. See you soon!"

He hopped off to the running engine and became its fourth occupant, filling the seat as the contestants watched the host drive off down the roadway.

They were distracted by having someone else wrap their arms around them - all three of them. Looking they saw Geoff grinning from ear-to-ear as he pressed his head between Izzy and Courtney's, his arm managing to wrap around the latter and include Beth.

"So, Geoff's here to stay! What do you guys think?"

* * *

><p><strong>(Car of Failure)<strong>

"Aw, come on!" Ezekiel said.

"It's too dangerous!" The intern cried, "At least wait until we get to Players of Losers or whatever you called that place."

"It's Playa _des_ Losers, and no, it has eyeholes. Ask Harold, he wore the costume. Hunted down three out of five. At night."

"Yes, but not in the middle of the woods! And he didn't drive, either."

"Yeah intern-!" Sadie was about to add.

"My name isn't 'Intern,' it's Megan."

"-Yeah Megan! Stand up to him!"

"Actually," Harold finally gave his own two cents, "I wouldn't mind if Ezekiel tried it out. I mean, the mask does allow for sufficient sight support. Even if he was in a dense forest like this. I should be a reliable source, I wore it after all."

"But-"

"Sorry Sadie!" Ezekiel broke in, "That's two to two and the host settles all ties!"

Sadie sighed as he took his hands off the wheel, trying to stuff the Homer mask on his face. "You don't stand up to Courtney that much, do you?"

Harold tensed at that sentence. And picked this for the answer: "...What do you think?"

"Okey-okey!" Ezekiel said, in a very poor immitational voice of the animate sitcom-star. "Homer here, wishing you a good sign-off! Our final five is over, but not this new level of extreme difficulty! Doh! Who will lose next? Find out, in the next episode of Total! Zeksmit! Plains!"

"Ezekiel! Deer!" Megan cried.

The host tried to swerve his way around the wildlife that jumped into the middle of the road, which took him and those riding with him off into the wilderness, curving around the animal and managing to make it back on-road. But only for a second. And facing sideways, at that, continuing the pseudo-curve and crashing right into a tree.

"...Is anyone okay?" Ezekiel asked, which was met with a number of "Mm hms."

* * *

><p><strong>(Audition - Sadie)<strong>

This was clearly in the same location as Katie's audtion. The same room, everything. Only it was noticeably darker, the camera was being held by Sadie, and pointed at her face. Katie was nowhere in sight.

"...Listen. I'm sorry, but our double-audition was _crappy._ So I'm gonna make in a new one, just in case! Um, if this is enough to get me in, but our double audition wasn't, please have Katie compete with me too! Like, compete with as in we can work together, not compete with as in we have to compete against eachother. The thought of doing that is sad...

"Anyway, hello Ezekiel Smithy, or as you call yourself, Zeksmit. I'm Sadie in case you got our names mixed up, and I'm going to give you a real audition. With a talent."

Setting the camera on something more stable than her hands (which were clearly the cause of the vibrating screen - it stopped after aformentioned setting down), she crawled on the bed, staring into the lens for a few seconds. "I actually forgot what I was going to do, but... um... I'll make this up!"

One deep breath later. "Okay, there's this. I found out last year that if I spin around in just the right way, I can pick things up. Like a mini tornado! Okay, I learned that from Katie, but I can always put my own little _spin_ on it!" She ended that with a nervous laugh.

"But seriously," she got on her feet, "That's enough of that. It's time to try this."

She moved a foot outwards, carefully eyeing how far it was from her other leg. Then she drew it back in. Then an inch out. A hair's length back in. To confirm that she finally got her feet at the right distance from eachother, she pressed down on the bed. With a shuffle, her spin started, turning around while the blanket below her lifting up from its edges. And closing in towards her. She said it herself, soon the magenta sheet began wrapping itself around Sadie the more she spun, lifting higher and closing more-

Sadie slipped... of sorts. She seemed to uncontrollably leap off of the bedding as a whole, briefly flying through the air and taking her new covering with her, and the two of them knocked into the table. The camera, likewise, went flying, flipping through the room until the sound of glass breaking followed by the recorder landing in something that rustled. The sounds combined with its current view of green give a pretty clear indication as to what happened.

"Ow! Oh, by the way, I'm not even an air class! Wait. Where did the camera go?" Her footsteps. "Ah, there it is! Ow, glass!"

She grabbed it, lifting it from the bush and pointing it at her face sheepishly grinning at the device from the broken window.

"Oh boy... when I win, I'm gonna spend as much of the money as I can to fix the damage! So please, at least pick me! Ha ha ha ha ha ha..."

Once again, static after she pressed a button.

* * *

><p><strong>Votes:<strong>

Beth: Sadie

Courtney: Sadie

Eva: Izzy

Izzy: Sadie

Sadie: Izzy

**Total:**

Eva - Immune

Izzy - 2

Sadie - 3

* * *

><p><strong>Still In:<strong> Beth, Courtney, Eva, Izzy

**Eliminated:** Heather, Gwen, Leshawna, Katie, Bridgette, Lindsay, Sadie

* * *

><p><strong>Closing AN:<strong>

We're in the endgame now! Or... were since the beginning of this, but I didn't want to put any kind of beginning note, to try to add to the suspense and oddness of just what the heck this chapter is supposed to be.

But yeah, things are supposed to feel "different" in some way from here on out, and I hope that this captured enough of a difference from chapters 1-6. (As for 7, well... that's kind of a "buffer" in a way? It's Geoff's introduction, but he doesn't really play that much of a role there compared to here. The eliminated contestants make a return, but they're dealing with both old and new conflicts.) I'm gonna try to make a lot of changes for this. Getting ready for _Island_ and everything. Anyway, with this finally out, I'll now start on _Total Zeksmit Side Stories_ today. As in, just writing the beginning of the first chapter. See where it goes.

What was that stuff about the classes Eva and Ezekiel were discussing at the lake? Honestly, it will probably not come up much here. That's mostly world-thickening stuff that gives this place (which I call the Zeksmitverse) more of a split identity, so that the spinoff about the cast's adventures will feel more like it's a spinoff of this and not just a random _Total Drama_ fan fic that's not in a competition but in a superpowered world. Although the character interactions and stuff could give it away, since they're supposed to be similar for the most part. The mention was kind of forced, but I think it was better handled than the old plan, where Courtney just flat-out lists in a confessional what she would do if she had each class. It could have been better, but I wanted the classes to be expanded upon by the chapter that marks the point where I start on TZSS. Although there's no garuntee that this will be the last chapter before I _publish_ TZSS. Eh... there's also the fact that this is a special chapter that changes a lot about the story as it stood, so that's reason to finally introduce a concept that's been known to every character in story. Huh. I just realized this, but this is also like how Courtney (and her friends) already knew about Harold, but you didn't until reading this.

And yes, those "classes" were the aformentioned "fantasy elements" the summary talked about. Not anything that came before that. Heck, probably not even he Homer suit, seeing as _Total Drama_ canon has a remote-controled hail cloud that could just be dismissed as usual technology.

More interactions between Geoff and Justin will come in the future, despite the latter actually dodging the former! This was actually because, while writing the lake scene at the end (which came after everything else and was the only new thing I added in finalization bar the auditions (I hate writing the auditions, especially as most of the campers had ideas back when this was _Total Fan Service Plains_ and I don't like most of the concepts now, so I save coming up with new concepts until right before publishing the chapter and as a result they suck)), I forgot to use that as one of its intented purposes to give them more interactions. And then decided, screw it, that lack could be because Justin hates him, and use that to shake up this current Justin-Ezekiel dynamic. After all, you're probably getting sick of "Justin thinks he's better than Ezekiel and keeps remarking about how flawed he is while Justin has a few issues of his own." Geoff will throw a wrench into it.

I know, I know, Harold being the identity of Courtney's boyfriend may not be that surprising considering my other competition _Total Drama World Tour Rewrite_. I didn't try that hard, but I kind of did, to make as many false leads as possible. Harold's role in TDWTR has nothing to do with this, and I'm trying to distance TZ from that, this revelation probably setting it back. I tried to make it seem like _Owen_ was the answer, but I'm not even sure if there's any signs pointing to it being him. So yes, Harold was planned to be the answer from the beginning. And I didn't want to change that just because of TDWTR's existance and my love-hate thoughts towards it now. I promise that this will not be a harem story.

But then again, maybe the distancing from TDWTR makes the reveal more surprising? Huh? Huh? I don't really know.

Next up: **High Gear in High Heels**. We're back to challenges in the day, and Ezekiel rips a page from _Total Drama Action_ (without knowing of it, since TDA doesn't exist) and uses some movie props in this next racing challenge!

Thankfully, I already started on that.


End file.
